Making Tax Digital Doable for Income Tax Self-Assessment
A few years ago, the Conservatives pledged to abolish the tax return.
“Bravo!” I hear you cry!
Of course, accountants like me despaired, we’re talking head in hands time.
Naturally, the taxpayer went “woo hoo” and gave it no more thought.
I don’t blame you one bit.
However….as ever, the tax devil was in the detail. Cue sneaking music…(Enter stage left, creeping).
The Treasury believes they are missing lots of tax revenue by people under declaring income or over declaring allowable expenses, so this tax gap exists. By fixing this, then there will be more money slushing around the public purse in order to give back to the people that need it.
However….to do that, need “more up-to-date information about businesses and their finances” to enable “easier identification and better targeting for taxpayer support”.
And lo…the time will soon be upon us when we will have to embrace “Making Tax Digital” because guess what, the tax return hasn’t really been abolished, it has just been tweaked!
Help! What will I have to do if it applies to me Louise?
Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring!
Here’s the situation in a nutshell:
● Keep digital records of all business or property income & expenses
● Send quarterly updates direct to HMRC electronically with no human intervention
● Submit an end of period statement to finalise the self-employment accounts
● Do a finalisation return which then pulls in all the other sections of the tax return.
Now, I guess you have spotted the fun – this is 6 returns for each tax year! It is a “big bang” approach in that everybody needs to go on this from the 1st April 2024.
“OH PHEW!” That’s AGES away” I hear you cry!
Not so fast! Go to the dressing up box and find your best thinking cap, you will need it.
OK, thinking cap on, what do I need to do now Louise?
May I humbly suggest snaffling a copy of the FREE guide I have written just for you?
You can grab it here.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to spam you!
Watch this quick video and be reassured:
Meanwhile, get thinking.
You need to know these things and think about what you need to do to comply with the changes.
Look at it as an opportunity to understand where your money comes from, but more importantly, being able to analyse where your money goes.
● Do you need to spend £5K a year at various coffee take-away places?
● Do you need all these subscriptions for things you never use?
Seeing this as you go along can really hammer home what works for you and what works against you. That £4.99 a month subscription is not very much, but if you have 3 or 4 of them, that can be £20 a month going out the window for no reason. The benefit is better management of your business.
There’s a lot to cover which i cannot possibly summarise in a blog, so grab the free report and you can find out the following:
● Who is caught by MTD ITSA?
● What YOU will have to do.
● All about paying tax quarterly
● Any exceptions to this whole thing
● Can you leave the system?
● What software you might need
● Potential complications and other banana skins
What can Louise and her team do to help me?
Firstly, we will be keeping you up to date with as many webinars as we can for when changes take place and will start to review available software after the tax return filing season is over, plus considering what we can do to help you with your bookkeeping.
Updates will be on our website and in our Facebook groups for performers
(), plus for clients and those on our mailing list, there will be regular updates from February 2022.
May I humbly suggest snaffling a copy of the FREE guide I have written just for you – Making Tax Digital Doable? You can grab it here, don’t worry, I’m not going to spam you!