Car retailers are among the thousands of UK business that have been forced to adapt their accounting practices in order to meet the HMRC’s new Making Tax Digital (MTD) deadlines.

But as the first of the deadlines for compliance with the new format – initially for VAT reporting – looms large on August 7, AM is keen to understand the main challenges and difficulties attached to the process and is asking retailers to share their experience in a quick survey.

 

Take the AM Making Tax Digital Survey

 

Originally announced in the spring 2015 Budget, the MTD initiative will aim to modernise UK tax compliance processes by adopting digital record-keeping for affected businesses, more frequent updating of compliance data, and making better use of third-party information.

Having listened to concerns about the pace of change, particularly for small businesses, the government announced in July 2017 that the pace of mandation would be slowed and that Making Tax Digital will not be mandated for taxes other than VAT until at least April 2020.

“If dealers have older accounting software that isn’t MTD compliant, don’t have an accountant that submits VAT returns on their behalf, or don’t have any digital accounting software in place at all, they will need some help.”

While the first cohort of organisations required to register for Making Tax Digital for VAT (MTDfV) have to do so by July 26 if they pay by direct debit, AM expects many car retailers to fall under the 'more complex' business definition allowed until October to register.

Nevertheless, many have felt the pressure of complying to the changes, ahead of the wider introduction of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and Corporation Tax.

MHA MacIntyre Hudson provided its top tips on Making Tax Digital in March and the Independent Garage Association (IGA) published a self-help ‘Garage Guide to Making Tax Digital for VAT’ in February. Read the Government's overview of Making Tax Digital. 

The six-question survey will take less than two minutes.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences.

Tim Rose, editor, AM

>> Take the AM Making Tax Digital Survey