There have been some significant changes to the proposed implementation plans for MTD during the course of the last two months leading us to publish an entirely new home page. On 13 July 2017 the government announced that MTD for VAT will come into effect from April 2019. From that date businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) will have to:-

• Keep their records digitally for VAT purposes only.
• Provide their VAT return information to HMRC through MTD functional compatible software.

Whilst other businesses may use MTD on a voluntary basis they will not be required to keep digital records, or to update HMRC quarterly, for other taxes until at least 2020. All businesses will have at least two years to adapt to the changes before being asked to keep digital records for other taxes.

The second 2017 Finance Bill was published on 8 September 2017 and contained the primary legislation for MTD. This gives the commissioners of HMRC very wide powers to publish a secondary legislation through statutory regulations. A draft of the secondary legislation was published the following week for consultation, with responses due by 10 November 2017. It is anticipated that the final regulations will be published by April 2018 and, until then, it is impossible to say exactly what will be required of businesses under MTD.

As soon as the legislation is finalised our MTD home page will be further updated. In the meantime watch out for MTD updates on our Digital News link.

Partner Dale Simpson is chairman of the south west region for the Institute of Chartered Tax Advisors and has joined the Institute’s national technical committee dealing with Making Tax Digital.

Dale is not only representing his institute but he is also representing all staff and clients of Thomas Westcott to try to ensure that Making Tax Digital is carried out in such a way that it is fair to taxpayers.

If you have any comments or queries regarding Making Tax Digital or you would like to receive regular updates by email please contact us at mtd@thomaswestcott.co.uk or call your local office.