There has been a lot of information in the press in the last few years highlighting changes in the way that businesses and individuals will report their figures to HMRC.

The initiative called Making Tax Digital (MTD) is an initiative designed to make sure the UK tax system is effective, efficient and easier for taxpayers but also an attempt to close the tax gap, the difference between the tax that should be collected and the tax that actually is.

MTD will begin on 1 April 2019 with MTB for VAT. All VAT registered businesses above the VAT threshold of £85k will have to keep digital records and submit VAT returns using compatible software such as Xero (www.xero.com).

MTD certainly isn’t going away, and other components of MTD such as income tax and corporation tax are scheduled to come in (at the earliest) from April 2020. The changes may feel overwhelming and there could be a temptation to delay adopting MTD until the last minute.

However, MTD and the introduction of software such as Xero, provides all businesses with a real opportunity to benefit and to maximise the potential their business has.

• Income and expenditure can be seen in real-time, allowing businesses to quickly review & monitor performance, forecast forward and make informed decisions to enable changes to improve their future;
• Using Xero and integrated apps removes paperwork & bookkeeping processing, enables quicker payments from customer allowing business owners to save time on administration and spend their time doing what they do best;
• The business’ accountant has continual access to the Xero account, so that they spend more of their time advising and guiding rather than processing and ticking boxes. Tax planning opportunities can be quickly identified and maximised and the accountant is better place to intervene to avoid business critical situations.
• A low cost, easy to use accountancy package which is accessible anytime and anywhere, Xero can literally transform your business.

If you’d like to see how we can make tax digital for your business then please feel free to get in touch.