I have around 70 active clients and the majority of them are small business owners who keep paper records.
Obviously MTD is being introduced to ensure records are held digitally but is there any reason why they can't give me their records quarterly for me to enter on my software? I can't see why not and can imagine there are a lot of accountants thinking the same thing!
Has it been confirmed that there will be a quarterly liability for them to pay too?
What do you guys think about all the late coming clients missing the deadline and accountants putting through estimated income and expenditure in the way a provisional tax return is submitted to avoid the late filing penalty, could there be a provisional option too?
Sorry, a lot of questions there and I appreciate there may not be a set answer for all.
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Sorry, a lot of questions there and I appreciate there may not be a set answer for all.
Discussed quite frequently on here if you search. Appears very little concrete detail from HMRC. Quarterly payments aren’t part of MTD Mk 1 but it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to think that’s part of the master plan.
Agree David
When it happens we will know the rules
No reason at all ahy accountant cannot be bookkeeper
There is going to be a lot of duff entries
An accountant's estimate will look more correct than most entries in the first year
Why worry now?
More providers will join in later
Is it reasonable to prepare the quarterly returns without being so meticulous with accruals and prepayments? Sounds awful saying that but can we do the quarterly submissions with less attention to detail knowing that the final return will be polished up and as accurate as usual?!
I find that prepayments and accruals by bookkeepers on a monthly or quarterly basis is a recipe for annual accounts that take much more time sorting out the journals than records kept on an invoice or cash basis
Recently dealt with one that had monthly depreciation of every asset (every asset, not class of asset)
So many journals
So many errors
It is obviously the case that currently you can post the quarters on a cash basis and do accruals and pre-payments as adjustments. I tend to go for cash basis accounting anyway. I think it is important to ensure that this facility remains for people who submit tax accounts on an accruals basis in the medium to long term.
I didn’t think there would be an issue, thank you. I always go for accrual basis to ensure I can claim sideways tax relief if necessary.
Is it that there will be 4 quarterly submissions and then a fifth return? Or is the 4th quarter the final return?
Probably should just look this up myself!
Thanks
Of course it's OK for them to give us paperwork to enter in to our system. Why else would they need us?
We do actually do bookkeeping to you know..
If they can't keep records for themselves then surely they are exempt:do they need third party help or would make errors otherwise , extra costs employing a book-keeper or accountant , can't use a computer due to education , anxiety or age issues etc ,has the client tried to keep computer records and failed - these are just some of the multiple reasons the client might be exempt. The aim of MTD is to make life and costs easier not more complicated and so careful consideration to exemption needs to be considered otherwise you might be encouraging your client to comply when then should be exempt from. Take care.
The aim of MTD is to make life and costs easier not more complicated.....
Yes, but only for HMRC.
The aim of MTD is to make life and costs easier not more complicated
Who told you that?
And do you believe them??
One reason is that they won't want to pay you for for the additional 4 lots of returns
The quarterly liability is for the future but WILL arrive