digital vat

[karl]

hi   just a quick question , which system are you using ? ...the most user friendly and clear to use

[Gary Prentice]

I wouldn't worry what everyone else is using but as all Vat returns are going to be directly online, or already are, I'd look at the VAT website to see what is compatible.

 

Program on R4 last week about it. As I understand it all the figures for costs and profit/income are entered on the Vat website, straight from your own software. Lots of hullabaloo from small businesses who have old software that isn't compatible or where there isn't add -on bridging software available.

 

It's been on the cards for 2-3 years but it's imminent now.

 

Good luck 

[Steve Bullman]

I use quick books. Bit of a learning curve to it depending how in depth you need to go, but I would recommend it 

[karl]

thanks

im ...so basically not a lot if difference  , more a lot of fuss than any big changes

[Steve Bullman]

What are you currently using Karl?

 

And no, its not much of a fuss depending on how you have being doing your vat. For me, I have been doing it digitally through quickbooks for the past 18 months now anyway.

[karl]

i don't actually do these myself steve , we were using quickbooks some time ago but swapped back to simpley putting them on the vat portal .

[donnk]

26 minutes ago, karl said:

i don't actually do these myself steve , we were using quickbooks some time ago but swapped back to simpley putting them on the vat portal .

they need all your purchase invoices and sales invoices for each quarter as well - electronically.

 

all the online books send them via the portal with the vat return.

 

This way they big computer at HMRC crunches the numbers and if you claimed a purchase invoice for £1000 from company ABC and on ABC's upload there is no corresponding invoice for £1000 they are going to come and bend you over.

[Steve Bullman]

16 minutes ago, donnk said:

they need all your purchase invoices and sales invoices for each quarter as well - electronically.

 

 

 

Have you got a link to where it states this?

[donnk]

i use clear books and you can see them all on the vat return before you click to submit to HMRC

 

https://www.crunch.co.uk/knowledge/tax/mtd-webinar/

 

[doobin]

2 hours ago, donnk said:

they need all your purchase invoices and sales invoices for each quarter as well - electronically.

 

all the online books send them via the portal with the vat return.

 

This way they big computer at HMRC crunches the numbers and if you claimed a purchase invoice for £1000 from company ABC and on ABC's upload there is no corresponding invoice for £1000 they are going to come and bend you over.

 

2 hours ago, Steve Bullman said:

Have you got a link to where it states this?

From browsing accounting forums trying to get to the bottom of this, it appears that this is not the case. It's the same nine boxes that you currently enter in the portal, but you can't enter them 'manually' via the keyboard. Cue the hundreds of minnow software developers trying to flog a really basic program for £££ that takes figures from a spreadsheet and submits it via the HMRC API. I can't find the link but someone had looked at the code of the API and confirmed that it was just the nine boxes being submitted.

 

I also read that the were also no plans currently in the pipeline to take any further data as donnk alludes to. Which makes rather a mockery of the huge clusterfuck that HMRC have fosted upon buisineses large and small- it's for no apparent benefit other than the avoidance of 'fat fingers' when submitting data. Yes, I'm sure it will all link up eventually- but they could at least have waited and developed free bridging software rather than simply throw the less informed to the mercy of Sage et al, and ever increasing subscriptions. That's what really stinks about the whole affair.

 

It's not just small business who use spreadsheets- it's massive corporations whose ins and outs don't fit neatly into 'sage simple all in one accounting'.