ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. CA Magazine

    View the latest issues of the dedicated magazine for ICAS Chartered Accountants.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Find a CA
  1. About us
    1. Governance
  2. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Newly qualified
    3. Manage my membership
    4. Benefits of membership
    5. Careers support
    6. Mentoring
    7. CA Wellbeing
    8. More for Members
    9. Area networks
    10. International communities
    11. Get involved
    12. Top Young CAs
    13. Career breaks
    14. ICAS podcast
    15. Newly admitted members 2022
    16. Newly admitted members 2023
  3. CA Students
    1. Student information
    2. Student resources
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
    7. CA Student wellbeing
  4. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
    7. University exemptions
  5. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  6. Find a CA
  7. ICAS events
    1. CA Summit
  8. CA magazine
  9. Insight
    1. Finance + Trust
    2. Finance + Technology
    3. Finance + EDI
    4. Finance + Mental Fitness
    5. Finance + Leadership
    6. Finance + Sustainability
  10. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Business and governance
    5. Charities
    6. Coronavirus
    7. Corporate and financial reporting
    8. Cyber security
    9. Ethics
    10. Insolvency
    11. ICAS Research
    12. Pensions
    13. Practice
    14. Public sector
    15. Sustainability
    16. Tax
  11. CPD - professional development
    1. CPD courses and qualifications
    2. CPD news and updates
    3. CPD support and advice
  12. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  13. CA jobs
    1. CA jobs partner: Rutherford Cross
    2. Resources for your job search
    3. Advertise with CA jobs
    4. Hays | A Trusted ICAS CA Jobs Partner
    5. Azets | What's your ambition?
  14. Work at ICAS
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS
  15. Contact us
    1. Technical and regulation queries
    2. ICAS logo request

The importance of choosing the right MTD software for your business

  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)
By Paul Oldridge, BTCSoftware

28 October 2019

As the UK Government starts bringing its plans for a digital tax system into place in 2019 with the mandation of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT, it is important to understand the longer-term implications of MTD for your business. Paul Oldridge talks about the future of MTD and how BTCHub can help.

The story so far

MTD is a key part of the government’s plan to make it simple for individuals and businesses to stay on top of their affairs and get their tax right. HMRC say that “Making Tax Digital is making fundamental changes to the way the tax system works” and aims to make tax administration more effective, efficient, and easier for taxpayers. BTCHub is perfect for businesses as it is designed to meet these aims with no disruption to your current bookkeeping methods.

Avoidable mistakes cost the Exchequer over £9 billion a year, so MTD for VAT has been a major step forward for digital tax. Most of the 1.2 million affected businesses should now be signed up for MTD for VAT and will have made their first return under the system. For those still waiting – 54% of participants in a recent YouGov poll – it’s important that they become MTD for VAT ready and are prepared for the next step in MTD.

MTD for VAT

The backbone of MTD for VAT is the introduction of mandatory digital record keeping and digital transfer of that information to HMRC for tax returns. Digital record-keeping can include bookkeeping software or spreadsheets, and bridging software is ideal for businesses who don’t want to overhaul their record-keeping methods. Originally, HMRC were planning to collect each account posting in real-time, but this is no longer the case and HMRC currently only require the nine-box totals that make up your business’s VAT return.

For businesses which collect their VAT return data on a spreadsheet, BTCSoftware’s solution BTCHub is ideal as the data is still kept in the same way and simply transmitted via an API to HMRC so that it is compliant with MTD rules. BTCHub also integrates with major bookkeeping packages, making it a versatile tool which can grow with your business.

What’s next for MTD?

HMRC have been working on a pilot with businesses to test and develop MTD for Income Tax. The plan for MTD for Income Tax is for self-employed businesses to use software to keep digital records and send digital Income Tax updates to HMRC, rather than filing a Self Assessment tax return. With this system, a business will be able to see an estimate of how much tax may be owed as their tax year progresses instead of waiting until the end of the tax year.

Having listened to concerns from businesses about the pace of the change to MTD, HMRC have confirmed that mandation of MTD for taxes other than VAT will not happen until at least April 2020. For businesses concerned about the cost of the changes and buying specialist software for each iteration of MTD, bridging software like BTCHub is an ideal solution that works with the current VAT rules and future MTD mandation.

BTCHub means that you are able to maintain your current bookkeeping software or digital method and be ready for both the present and future of MTD. You keep your own digital records – for many small businesses this is a spreadsheet – and BTCHub allows MTD-compliant transmission of your data to HMRC in a few simple steps.

Talk to us

BTCSoftware’s MTD for VAT Solution BTCHub can be purchased as a standalone product for £250 +VAT for a 12-month licence. It’s quick and easy to set up and unlimited support from our support team is included. To speak to the sales team about BTCHub, please call 0345 241 5030 (option 1) or email sales@btcsoftware.co.uk

MTD for VAT: Latest update

By Philip McNeill, ICAS Head of Taxation (Tax Practice and Small Business Taxes)

15 May 2019

2023-03-MarksElectrical 2023-03-MarksElectrical
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • CA magazine

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba

Accreditations

  • ISO 9001 - RGB (opens new window)
© ICAS 2022

The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: