For those unaware, Making Tax Digital for Business, the Government’s policy to move all business-related tax reporting online, is about to land on us.
In other words, from April 2019 most businesses will be required to submit their existing VAT records electronically.
However, it needn’t be the potential headache it appears to be at first glance.
Some businesses have already moved to use one of the many cloud accounting packages as cloud accounting gives business owners functionality and benefits.
All that happens is the software is accessed via the internet and your data rests on a secure off-site server that you can access when you need it. That is, of course, presuming you have decent broadband access.
There are many options. For instance, there’s Xero, one of the fastest growing packages in the UK, Accounts IQ, Quickbooks online for micro-businesses, and the long-standing Sage Business Cloud.
We at AIT Services would advise when thinking of cloud accounting like you would any other purchase based on what you need and functionality.
It’s also worth adding, if the idea of submitting your own VAT returns traumatises you, then talk to your accountant as soon as possible. Good accountants, like AIT Services, will put your mind at ease and take care of matters for you.
If you do your own bookkeeping using cloud accounting software then just give your accountant access to the accounting software. He or she can review the VAT transactions, liaise with you on various points and make changes once you are content with the figures – the VAT return will then be submitted to HMRC.
It’s worth adding that you can ask an accountant to also do the bookkeeping, draft the VAT return and, and follow the whole process up to and including dealing with the tax man.
As we said, it’s a big issue that needs tackling now. If you would like to talk to AIT Services about how we can help, please contact us today.