MTD (Making Tax Digital) Part Six: Common sense prevails!

The Treasury announced yesterday that there will be a significant revamping of the proposals for MTD.

Businesses with income below the £85,000 VAT threshold, and which previously were caught under the original proposals, will no longer have to report online under the digital regime.  The Treasury have said they can join the digital revolution “at a pace that is right for them” although tax reporting online may be brought in at some point in the future.

The modified proposals see businesses above the VAT threshold being required to keep online digital records from April 2019 – but only for VAT reporting.  For other taxes, there is no requirement to keep or update digital records quarterly until “the system has been shown to work well and no earlier than 2020”.

PetersonSims are delighted at this announcement and Gerry Sims FCA said “At last, common sense has prevailed and the Government has listened to the views of the accounting profession and recognised that MTD would have been a significant time and monetary cost for business, just at the point when they would be facing other economic challenges associated with Brexit ”.

The new legislation will form part of the new Finance Bill which is expected to be introduced before Parliament’s summer recess.