No. The ‘soft landing’ period only covers the digital links requirements as set out under 3.2 .1 Digital links in the VAT Notice 700/22. Businesses will have a ‘soft landing’ period to put in place digital links between software products where they use more than one product to meet their digital record keeping requirement. Businesses mandated to join Making Tax Digital for VAT from: • 1 April 2019 will have until their first VAT return period starting on or after 1 April 2020 to put digital links in place between software products • 1 October 2019 will have until their first VAT return period starting on or after 1 October 2020 to put digital links in place between software products
Are there any penalties for not complying with MTD? What happened to HMRC not coming down hard on those trying their best?
Yes. HMRC recognises that businesses will require time to become familiar with the new requirements of MTD. HMRC has been clear that during the first year of mandation it will not pursue record-keeping penalties where businesses are doing their best to comply with the law. But this does not mean a blanket ‘no penalties promise’.
The VAT Default Surcharge (DS) regime will continue to apply to safeguard VAT revenue, and other sanctions remain possible for deliberate non-compliance.
MTD should not increase the risk of this penalty, as this penalty is only levied where a business doesn’t pay their VAT or pays late while in DS.
Customers who receive a DS can contact HMRC if they have a reasonable excuse for this and HMRC will take account of all the relevant circumstances into consideration.
If a customer faces issues outside their control, such as an IT failure, and ends up receiving a penalty, HMRC would strongly encourage them to get in contact with their software provider or HMRC as soon they can. HMRC wants to ensure that MTD lands well and customers feel supported, where needed.
Making Tax Digital for Business – stakeholder communications pack
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Making Tax Digital plans for small businesses to go ahead 19 March 2019
The Government announced in the Spring Statement that it would focus on supporting businesses to transition, and will therefore not be mandating Making Tax Digital (MTD) for any new taxes or businesses in 2020.
The vast majority of VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above the VAT threshold (£85,000) will be mandated to keep digital VAT records and send returns using MTD-compatible software from April 2019.
It was 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. The Chancellor reaffirmed these plans for MTD during his Spring Statement and promised firms they would not face fines if they do their best to adapt. However, similar reporting standards for income tax, expected to be introduced in April 2020, have been pushed back by at least a year.
Businesses can get involved in the Income Tax pilot now on a voluntary basis
Stakeholder communications pack The stakeholder communication pack provides information to support businesses that need to make the transition to digital VAT business record keeping and submission of VAT returns using MTD-compatible software from 1 April 2019.
The Making Tax Digital for Business – stakeholder communications pack has been updated with information from the 2019 spring statement.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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