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Making tax digital – misses the point!

Accountant in Fulham, Putney, West London

Making tax digital for business is part of HMRC’s continued drive to interact with tax payers online. You can read more about it here – HMRC – MTD.

For years and years we have been submitting tax returns online (VAT, corporation tax, self-assessment) and more recently payroll data has been submitted online under the Real Time Information rules.

So MTD is the next set of steps in a long process.

But it’s also a flag that accountants and accountancy software providers are running up the flagpole and using as a marketing tool. Which is fine, but I think the tax cart is being put before the business horse.

The sensible move is to make bookkeeping digital!

Make bookkeeping digital

The time has surely come to get your accounting done using proper accounting software and ideally in the cloud for added accessibility.

Ditch the spreadsheets, ditch the shoebox full of receipts, ditch paper!

Sign up for one of the cloud accounting packages (our favourite is QuickBooks) and:

  • link it to your bank
  • use an app like AutoEntry capture invoices and receipts and do the data entry
  • see financial performance in real time on your phone or tablet
  • share the data with your accountant
  • save time and money

And when you have something like a VAT return or an MTD submission to send to HMRC, get the numbers right and send it from the software.

What could be easier?

 

Michael

@diaryofanomb

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MICHAEL AUSTIN

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