16 Jul 2019
HMRC is urging businesses to register for Making Tax Digital for VAT (MTD for VAT) before the 7 August VAT filing date.
HMRC stated that 'many of the 1.2 million businesses affected by MTD for VAT will be required to submit their first quarterly return using compliant software by 7 August'. Firms paying by direct debit must register by 27 July.
Under MTD for VAT, businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT registration threshold (currently £85,000) must keep some records digitally, and must submit their VAT returns via an Application Programming Interface (API).
According to HMRC, around 10,000 businesses are registering for MTD for VAT every day, and more than 600,000 have signed up in total. Nearly 400,000 submissions have already been successfully made using MTD software.
'Now is the time for businesses with an August quarterly filing deadline to sign up and join the hundreds of thousands already experiencing the benefits of MTD,' said Theresa Middleton, Director of MTD at HMRC.
'During this first year, we won't be issuing filing or record-keeping penalties to businesses doing their best to comply.'