HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has opened a public pilot of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT.
The pilot is open to sole traders and companies that are up-to-date with VAT, who have not received a default surcharge in the last two years.
Some other groups will need to wait to join, including those:
- trading with the EU;
- based overseas;
- submitting VAT returns annually;
- making payments on account;
- using the VAT Flat Rate Scheme; or
- who have never submitted a VAT return in the past will need to wait to join.
HMRC has also announced that a small number of the most complex businesses will have a six-month deferral to October 2019 before they need to comply with the requirements of MTD for VAT.
MTD for VAT will require businesses with turnovers of £85,000 or more to keep digital records and make quarterly digital submissions to HMRC using ‘designated software packages’ from next April.
