HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has warned businesses across the UK that the registration process for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT takes seven working days.
This means that VAT-registered businesses turning over £85,000 or more need to register more than seven days before submitting a return if they want to pay their tax bill by direct debit.
Last month saw the introduction of the requirement for such businesses to keep digital records and make quarterly digital VAT returns using HMRC-compatible software packages. In practice, this means that they need to use cloud accounting packages.
The quarterly nature of MTD for VAT returns means that the first quarterly submissions will not actually become due for most until at least July 2019.
Registering involves setting up a Government Gateway user ID and ensuring compatible software is in place.
Link: Making Tax Digital for VAT registration takes seven working days
