Additional year to prepare for Making Tax Digital for taxes other than VAT

The Chancellor’s Spring Statement contained an important nugget of information for businesses that had been wondering when they will need to be ready for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for taxes other than VAT.

Until recently, the Government’s official line was that the rollout of the UK’s digital system would be confined to VAT until “April 2020 at the earliest”.

Now, a subtle change to this wording seems to suggest that MTD will not apply to any further taxes until 2021, with the Chancellor saying in his Written Ministerial Statement that “the Government will therefore not be mandating MTD for any new taxes or businesses in 2020.”

April saw the launch of MTD for VAT, which requires VAT-registered businesses with a turnover of £85,000 or more to keep digital records and make quarterly digital returns using HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) compatible software packages.

In practice, this means they need to use a cloud accounting platform for record keeping and filing.