HMRC have issued their latest Making tax Digital for Agents update. We have summarised the key content for you with links to our detailed guidance on the topics covered.
Recent enhancements to the online service:
You may have noticed that the MTD service was offline for a couple of days in November. This was to enable the following enhancements to be made:
- A repayment tracker so your MTD clients can see the status of their repayment via their Business Tax Account (BTA) and to change the method of receiving repayments.
- Allowing agents and clients to change more of their details online. Changes can be made either by agents using their Agent Services Account (ASA) or by clients accessing the BTA. The following can be changed in this way:
- Business Name
- Trading Name
- Address of principal place of business
- Contact telephone number (landline and/or mobile)
- Website address
- VAT period staggers (Quarterly, monthly or annual VAT returns)
- Allowing customers who have left the MTD service to sign up again without contacting HMRC. Previously if they wanted to sign up again after opting out, they could only do so by contacting HMRC.
- This is done via the home screens/dashboards of the ASA and BTA by confirming that the business’s taxable turnover is below £85,000.
- Opting out does not cancel the business’s VAT registration.
- Allowing businesses to view and print copies of their VAT returns through their BTA.
- The ability for agents to see previous return details submitted via software.
HMRC letters:
- HMRC have now sent letters to all customers mandated from April 2019 - all 3 quarterly staggers and customers on monthly returns.
- They have also sent letters to MTD customers who have not yet paid their VAT for the period ending 30 September 2019. There is no need to contact HMRC regarding these letters as no Surcharge Liability Notices will be issued due to the MTD soft landing.
Recent changes to the MTD VAT GOV.UK pages:
- HMRC has split out the agent and business MTD sign up pages:
- Agents: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sign-up-for-making-tax-digital-for-vat
- Businesses: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sign-your-business-up-for-making-tax-digital-for-vat
- The pages on linking/copying clients to your ASA and authorising new clients have been removed. If you had them bookmarked they will automatically re-direct to the existing sign in page for the Agent Services account.
Webinars and updates:
- There is an Agents' Talking Points MTD webinar on Thursday 19 December starting at 12 noon and lasting an hour. You can register for it here.
- The latest MTD webinar for businesses was to be on Wednesday 18 December. If you missed it we would expect the recording of this to be available on gov.uk shortly.
- If you would like to receive the MTD Agent update direct you should send your details to:
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Links to our guides:
Making Tax Digital (for VAT) tool: who has to join?
Making Tax Digital: VAT (subscriber guide)
Agent Service Account & VAT: Top Tips
External link:
HMRC Help and support for Making Tax Digital