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Accountants bear MTD brunt of educating clients

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Richard Sergeant​ tackles the beast that is MTD, covering what to do, how to get your team on board, and how to talk to clients about it.

30th Jun 2021
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Soon-to-be-released research from Thomson Reuters suggests that the number one challenge around MTD for the self-employed will be educating clients. 

Perhaps surprisingly, choosing the right technology is way in the distance. Underpinning this is likely to be a cultural and behavioural change, as much as a digital one.

Given that HMRC’s communication during the MTD for VAT run up and implementation was noticeably ‘last minute’, there must be a fear that history will repeat itself and the most-trusted-business-adviser will once again bear the brunt of getting taxpayers over the line. With huge numbers on the cusp of making the transition the scale of this can’t be underestimated.

Having lots of time on their hands isn’t something that accountants are renowned for, and with an intense year supporting businesses through the pandemic, it’s no surprise that few are rubbing their hands at the prospect of getting stuck in. 

But if you dig behind the research and the case is being made for starting sooner rather than later.

Education and training

Basic knowledge around MTD for the next cohort must be hovering around zero at the moment, so there’s a basic job to let them know it’s on its way. Feedback from firms actively trying to tell clients about what is coming up suggests that it is largely going in one ear and out the other. It is a problem that I think we can all recognise. 

This issue isn’t about the capability of understanding, but the inclination to understand. It won’t impact clients for another couple of years yet, so what’s all the hurry?

Even the most proactive I’ve spoken to accept that flagging up the imminent changes is easy to do, but it’s hard to make a compelling case for making an early move. This is a hard sell, and one we don’t have very long to make if it’s not all going to be last minute.

So with phase one being communicating the new rules and obligations, it’s not hard to see why tech choices fall down the list. In fact, let’s just take the tech thing off the table for now – no major supplier can afford to not have an MTD ready solution – your IT will work. 

However, getting that tech into the hands of clients, training them on it and getting them to use effectively is part of this long challenge of change management.

One aspect is discipline. Let’s say that’s about remembering to get everything done – and on time. It’s one thing to take a photo of a receipt, and it’s another thing to make sure the thing is legible. For those that have been used to an annual accounting regime, this could come as a shock, and one which has no immediately discernible business benefit. So if you’re telling them now (perhaps repeatedly) about what is coming on the horizon, it will at least help to reduce the chance of them denying all knowledge. 

The training aspect is a bit more tricky. With a range of data collection options, there should be something for everyone, but trying to get this done last minute could put you under considerable pressure. As with most things, the earlier clients can start the longer the time they have to get used to things and for you to iron out both their creases and your own. 

Highlighting the service options

Another hot question is who is going to do the review of figures and the filing with HMRC? The Thomson Reuters research seems to back up my own which is that there are few prepared to let this be their clients sole responsibility. 

It’s hard to be too general about this, but the interpretation is that some can be trusted to be left alone to get on with it, and some will need more support ranging from a high level review to full outsourcing of bookkeeping – and yes, everything in between.

Which means clarity around your service offering is also a priority: What do clients need, what do you want to provide, and at what cost. The more it touches the firm, the higher the cost will be.
The more options you have, the more certain you need to be that you are prepared and that the right clients can be steered in the right direction.

So again preparing them in advance as to what their options will be, and being aware that there will be a cost implication (even if it’s to be confirmed), paves the way and may even provide them with some added motivation to make changes now to save money in the future.

Start if you can, and keep going

I think this is tough, and you’ve got to give yourself the best opportunity to make it as least stressful for you and your staff as possible.

I’m not in the habit of giving advice to accountants about how to run their practice, but I am happy to talk about aspects of change management.

  • You know enough of the basic requirements, this should apply to the majority of those impacted – this gives you the place to start.
  • Start to tell them early – really early and keep telling them.
  • Begin to define your service options – it will also help in your communications.
  • Think about the tech, but don’t overthink it
  • Pick out your outliers and those that you know will struggle and talk to them individually

And if you can, start to create a positive case for clients to move. There will be lots of material coming out from vendors, and I would pick through these carefully and take the easiest to repackage and pass on.

And what about delays

We can’t bank on delays. Given the huge size and broad range of abilities in the next cohort it’s hard to see how a soft landing would work without creating all kinds of grey areas and ambiguities. Getting the message across therefore needs to start now, and before the threat of fines, or even perhaps experiencing a few, has a chastening effect. 

When it comes to MTD, your clients have much to learn

Replies (45)

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Richard Sergeant
By Richard Sergeant
30th Jun 2021 17:42

Just as an addition - HMRC have said that there will be some softlandings for particularly complicated cases - but these aren't defined as yet. Or, I don't know what they are!

I wouldn't rely on there being many examples, and to plan for the majority of clients to be heading over on time.

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By Open all hours
01st Jul 2021 00:15

If MTD had any significant benefit for businesses HMRC would be doing all the education and claiming all the credit.
MTD in itself has no benefit whatsoever for business, therefore there is no credit to be claimed.
We are left to explain the inexplicable and defend the indefensible.

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By BryanS1958
01st Jul 2021 09:35

Alternatively, just ignore MTD and wait for it to implode....

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By johnjenkins
01st Jul 2021 09:40

Educating the painter/decorator who earns circa £30k a year that submitting quarterly updates is going to stop any errors, given that they ask us to do yearly accounts from the records they keep, is a non starter.
Most Accountants (agents) use digital ways (in whatever form) to produce and submit accounts and tax computations. So there really is no point from a business point of view in MTD.
I have my own opinion as to why HMRC are pushing this, which I have expressed many times and nothing, as yet, has changed my mind.

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By Duggimon
01st Jul 2021 09:50

I think in communicating the upcoming changes to clients it's important to remember to emphasise you're on their side.

We will be immersed in what's going on, we'll have to come to terms with MTD, accept it and figure out the way ahead for our clients but in communicating it to them don't forget they're just hearing about it now, so if they (quite rightly) think this is an unreasonable imposition, don't forget to make it clear you agree with them rather than trying to sell them HMRC's rubbish about it improving accuracy.

Where is the data on MTD for VAT? Has it improved accuracy of anything? HMRC said it would reduce errors and the average cost to businesses would be £250, I would really like to see their evidence showing each of these to be true before they make such claims all over again for MTD for Income Tax.

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Replying to Duggimon:
joe
By Smokoe Joe
01st Jul 2021 11:33

All I have found from VAT MTD is it creates a complete mess of the books, as inevitably things change post filing , or errors come to light, and the resultant methods of rectifying dictated to by MTD means the trail, rather than being clearer,is actually very muddied.

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By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
01st Jul 2021 10:03

I have been "drip drip" on this on our usual circulars which go out with the budgets, flagging up the absurdity of it all and its utter pointlessness and additional burden to our clients in reporting junk numbers 4 times a year. I certainly wont be singing from the propaganda sheet that some seem to have swallowed whole.

I wont be rushing to do anything formal until the is a business case for doing so in terms of fines exceeding cost of compliance. I will certainly not be forcing clients to use unsuitable cloud software in advance as concession will no doubt arise as they have for VAT. Not a single client has change their accounting systems due to MTDfVAT, and I dont plan doing anything much with this either, it will all be work arounds. If there is no business case for software, there is no business case.

As a business what I am doing is pulling my horns in and not taking on new work and ensuring I have significant extra capacity to deal with it when it all hits so I am not working 6 days a week again like last year.

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
Richard Sergeant
By Richard Sergeant
01st Jul 2021 13:05

Interestingly HMRC have said that they WILL be creating some free software available for "the most simplest" of businesses.

Interpret that as you will

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Replying to rsergeant:
By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
01st Jul 2021 18:37

hmm, but I imagine it will be bobbins to use like their basic PAYE tools *shudders* and not deal with hardly anything you need it to.

The really odd thing about all of this is how they are going to reinvent the all the complexity of the SA returns into this 'period 5' API. Good luck with that.

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
Morph
By kevinringer
02nd Jul 2021 08:11

ireallyshouldknowthisbut wrote:

The really odd thing about all of this is how they are going to reinvent the all the complexity of the SA returns into this 'period 5' API. Good luck with that.


SA has been around for 25 years yet the number of SA filing exceptions increases every year. These are a puzzle because usually third party software can cope ok: it's HMRC that can't. If HMRC can't cope with these on an annual basis, how will HMRC cope with MTD dividing these into 4 quarterly (or is it 5) Tax Returns for each business and an annual SA-equivalent one by 31 January. HMRC are still struggling to deal with RTI even though that has been live for a dozen years and far less involved than MTD ITSA.
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By User deleted
01st Jul 2021 10:11

I'm not rushing, I remember how much time I wasted going through all this when it was first announced only to be kicked into the long grass.

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By Self-Employed and Happy
01st Jul 2021 10:15

Its an absolute joke.

The Capital Gains 30 day reporting is just the most recent aspect of a long line of HMRC washing its hands of responsibility.

Why not just add an option to the Agent Portal so we can simply type the numbers and file it via our own portal.

Instead of having to get the client to create a Property Account, Oh then you find out they don't actually have a Personal Tax portal they've just piggy backed their self-assessment onto their business portal meaning you can't create a Property Account.

So then you have to get them to create a Personal Gateway.
Get them to create a Property Account.
Then get them to give you the Property Account Number.

It's just a joke, especially when you consider many people aren't computer literate. I would go as far to say the new system will end up with less people declaring Capital gains on Rentals as they just can't be bothered to.

Its an absolute ball-ache, all this type of crap is stuff that really we can't give any value added for, HMRC expect it to be right so the onus falls on us to educate people, it's completely wrong.

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Replying to Self-Employed and Happy:
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By North East Accountant
01st Jul 2021 10:30

We gave up on the absurd new HMRC online system.

Send a paper one in.... works a treat

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Replying to North East Accountant:
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By Geoff56
01st Jul 2021 11:45

As a matter of interest, do you keep a blank copy of the form and use that each time, or do you request a form from HMRC for each specific case? I have read an article suggesting that if you don't do the latter, the paper form may be rejected.

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Replying to Geoff56:
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By North East Accountant
01st Jul 2021 12:01

Blank forms.... none rejected yet.....I'm going to blame you if this jinxes them now.

But if they do we'll just get actual form refill it in and refer HMRC to earlier filing.

If penalty arises easy win on appeal, I reckon. If not I'll pay the penalty myself.

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Replying to North East Accountant:
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By Richardrussell
01st Jul 2021 13:17

I had a client who accidentally set themselves up as an agent - they called HMRC to try and rectify, HMRC's response was to send them a form out!

So hopefully I should be able to get my hands on one of the fabled forms soon...

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Replying to Richardrussell:
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By johnjenkins
01st Jul 2021 13:22

Likewise

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Replying to Self-Employed and Happy:
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By NotAnAccountant2
01st Jul 2021 15:41

I'm not an accountant so might be completely misunderstanding but I am a developer and have spent some time playing with the API.

One thing I've noticed (I'm not sure if it's actually a problem or not) is that the API only supports one property business. I'm not sure what would happen if someone ceases one property business after the start of the year and starts another one later in the year.

I guess you can always report the cumulative figures - but it might get to be a mess if a loss from the earlier business cannot be carried forward into the new business. ISTM that in excel you would have to keep the businesses separate.

And I don't know what happens in the intervening quarterly reporting if the taxpayer has sold their only rental property. I guess currently you'll have to report zero entries rather than not report at all. (I also cannot see how to detect whether a property business is FHL or UK-property or both, so I guess everybody will have to report both)

I'm also not sure what historical information you'll be able to view via MTD - but one property business ceasing and another starting in different tax years seems to be something that cannot be that uncommon. I cannot see any way to retrieve "old" businesses so I don't know how you can retrieve old records.

(But I haven't spent lots of time on this, it's not something I can claim is relevant to my day job so its just the odd weekend when I'm bored...)

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Replying to NotAnAccountant2:
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By BryanS1958
08th Jul 2021 16:32

Even if my weekends ever get that boring I would still find a way of avoiding looking at MTD conundrums! I could always take up knitting....

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RLI
By lionofludesch
01st Jul 2021 10:19

Surely the HMRC mantra that MTD is a panacea for all errors is a good thing.

Once your client is on MTD, they presumably will accept that it is impossible for there to be any errors in returns.

They said so themselves.

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By whiteways
01st Jul 2021 10:20

If HMRC have come up with an unworkable policy, then it's not my responsibility to make it work.

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By North East Accountant
01st Jul 2021 10:33

A massive part of the problem is HMRC working in an agile way, making last minute changes that it expects everyone to comply with at the drop of a hat.

Let's take one area - Joint Property Income.

How is that going to be dealt with?

Like a Partnership with one set of books and the profit share allocated, or a set of books just for your share of the income. This is a huge issue.

Imagine the second alternative (which I have seen talked about by ICAEW)....how do you reconcile the bank? Two plus software licences required? Splitting every income and expense transaction.

Let's see when the definitive answer to this question comes as no-one at HMRC, ICAEW, or any of the Software knows for sure at the minute..... or if they do they are not saying.

So how can we can landlords get on on board now.

Sole traders - I have asked a random sample the question "Do you want to start complying with MTDfIT in April 2023 or April 2024?"

100% said April 2024- so a year end change delays them a year.

Now let's see when we get the answer for landlords from HMRC..........

PS - the headline "Accountants bear MTD brunt of educating clients".....we always have to educate clients....HMRC never does.

Thanks (5)
Replying to North East Accountant:
RLI
By lionofludesch
01st Jul 2021 10:33

North East Accountant wrote:

A massive part of the problem is HMRC working in an agile way, making last minute changes that it expects everyone to comply with at the drop of a hat.

Well, this is down to the usual issue.

There are a lot of situations which HMRC haven't thought about.

Then when someone points them out, HMRC reach for the first aid box and use a sticking plaster.

Thanks (5)
Replying to lionofludesch:
joe
By Smokoe Joe
01st Jul 2021 11:36

Beat me to it,HMRC don't work in an agile while, they just put out fires they started in the first place

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Replying to Smokoe Joe:
RLI
By lionofludesch
01st Jul 2021 11:40

If they consulted properly, these things wouldn't happen.

Consultation should be

"What do you think of this?"
"It's rubbish. Have you thought of this?"
"No. I see what you mean. We'll change it."

Whereas HMRC think consutation is

"What do you think of this?"
"It's rubbish. Have you thought of this?"
"No. But it's not our problem so we'll do it anyway."

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Replying to North East Accountant:
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By NotAnAccountant2
01st Jul 2021 16:08

North East Accountant wrote:

So how can we can landlords get on on board now.

Sole traders - I have asked a random sample the question "Do you want to start complying with MTDfIT in April 2023 or April 2024?"

100% said April 2024- so a year end change delays them a year.

Now let's see when we get the answer for landlords from HMRC..........

Don't know if it will actually work but where married couples joinly own the rental property can you do something like the following to gain an extra year (will depend a lot on the numbers)

5th April transfer 100% beneficial interest to one spouse and send in form 17. The other spouse now doesn't have a property business on 6th April.

7th April transfer enough beneficial interest back that the 100% owner will have gross turnover of less than 10K. Send in another form 17.

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Replying to North East Accountant:
Morph
By kevinringer
01st Jul 2021 16:27

Currently all my subcontractors are on 5 April year ends (because it's convenient) as are all my landlords (because it's a legal requirement) and some older self-employed businesses. The subcontractors and the older self-employed will change to 31 March leaving just the landlords on 5 April. So the first year of MTD ITSA will only be landlords. Landlords are generally very simple jobs annually (rent 12 x £1000, annual interest certificate for the mortgage) but the extra work for MTD will be completely disproportional (no one is going to get a quarterly interest certificate so we're going to have to estimate - how is estimating 4 quarters better than having the correct figure at the end of the year?). But HMRC won't feel any of this pain because all they're interested is the digital submission. They're not interested in how much work is required to make that digital submission.

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By Peter-S
01st Jul 2021 11:27

"Having lots of time on their hands isn’t something that accountants are renowned for"

This is the biggest problem for most small practices I should think. Even if I thought MTD was a good idea, which I don't, where do I find the time to educate a significant proportion of my client base in the use of accounting packages that many will not want to use or understand. Stating that there is a case for starting early doesn't change the fact that this is an extra burden on our current workload that we simply do not have the spare capacity to deal with and I am fairly confident that most of my clients do not want to pay me more now for sorting something out that can be left for a couple of years. We keep scratching our heads for a straight forward solution to deal with this and early retirement keeps coming top of the list.

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Replying to Peter-S:
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By Self-Employed and Happy
01st Jul 2021 11:38

That isn't the real issue to be honest, clients with businesses should be educated on how to use accounting packages AND you should charge for it.

What should not happen is that we have to spend time holding the clients hands interacting with HMRC when a simple addition to the client portal would allow us to do a job in minutes.

I find an ever increasing amount of my time is spent clearing up HMRC errors with simple things like allocation of payments, which they do incorrectly and then issue a fine / interest for something that's already been paid.

In an ideal world HMRC would be employing lots of accountants and paying them good money, rather than employing (lets be honest) people who on the whole are following a script in their narrow field of data entry / processing, due to their lack of expertise they are then given minimal access to make adjustments which then has to be sent higher up the chain and takes months to be sorted.

HMRC and the way it expects to be interacted with is the problem, not necessarily cloud accounting which on the whole I think is absolutely brilliant.

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By Alanpryan
01st Jul 2021 11:33

Only people to benefit are the software developers and pushers. Someone at HMRC must be on a massive 'incentive'

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By bluebaron
01st Jul 2021 11:48

I remember there initially being around a 25% non-compliance rate for MTD for VAT, and I look forward to there being I'd imagine maybe a 40% non-compliance rate when MTD for Income Tax comes in. I wonder if HMRC will then hail this as a success??!! Businesses with turnover of around £20k p/a aren't going to want to know about this nonsense. I just wish HMRC would raise the exemption threshold to something more meaningful.

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Replying to bluebaron:
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By Geoff56
01st Jul 2021 14:22

Only 40% non-compliance?

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Replying to Geoff56:
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By bluebaron
01st Jul 2021 16:27

Hopefully it will be 50%!!

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Replying to bluebaron:
Morph
By kevinringer
01st Jul 2021 15:19

Raising the MTD ITSA threshold might yet happen. Currently MTD VAT threshold is £85,000 and is to be reduced to £nil from April 2022. I reckon the level of non-compliance in the <£85,000 turnover category will be huge. Currently businesses with <£85,000 turnover are only required too submit 3-line accounts for SA, but MTD ITSA will require full digitisation. It isn't going to happen and once HMRC sees the massive level of non-compliance in these businesses for MTD VAT then maybe HMRC will have to think again. But they haven't taken a whole lot of notice of the existing level of non-compliance, so maybe they'll steam-roller on.

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Replying to kevinringer:
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By bluebaron
01st Jul 2021 16:29

I just fear that they will steam-roller on come what may...HMRC seems to be run by fanatics.

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Jennifer Adams
By Jennifer Adams
01st Jul 2021 12:06

Same as Bryan and 'I really should know this'... when I've told some of mine the reaction is .. that they will meet it when they have to.

To the vast majority of clients 2023 is years away and they have other things to worry about (such as surviving). All we can do is to ensure that our systems are up to date.

There is no way my paper receipts people will comply - I've not even thought about the CIS clients who, unless there is a quarterly tax refund just wont bother.

I'm more concerned about the clients who dont have a computer and even if they did wouldnt know how to turn it on.

Last year I tried to get clients on a CMS portal but they still send stuff by insecure email, still drop invoices and expenses off at the office and I've lost count of the number who still ask me for the bank sort code and acc number for HMRC payments even though they paid via BACS last year.

But I am doing as 'ireallyshouldknowit' is doing and doing a 'drip feed'. - so when MTD does eventually come in I am covered when they say.. 'I didnt know about this'.

If anyone wants a reminder of what a nightmare it is potentially going to be revisit Rebecca's article here.. she counted 20 returns for some people. Note: 210 comments.

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/hmrc-policy/mtd-monthly-reports-may-...

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By GHarr497688
01st Jul 2021 13:15

I have a Partnership aged in mid 60's will retire when 67. They keep the records in a CCT book , a perfect set of records. They are completely computer illiterate when it comes to book-keeping. I managed to show them how to put the VAT records onto Xero after they failed to use a spreadsheet. At the moment they keep the manual CCT book including the VAT section. They then enter this onto Xero for VAT only and file the VAT returns under MTD when the two sets of records reconcile. The Fee I charge is reasonable and they say they do not want to change Accountants even though I have said they might be better too. I meet them once a year and find them compliant in all respects.They have been with my Firm for 40 years. When MTD for ITSA comes in from 2023 they have no idea how they will use the software as they have little knowledge of how Accounts are made up or how Xero works. They feel forced to use a system they do not like or trust , against their best judgment which might end up with errors being made. The time and costs of keeping the records has more than doubled however they feel that they want to keep the Accounts in house. My question is that if the risk of error is greater , time taken doubled and no benefits to either client or HMRC then should an exemption be allowed. Additionally they were not bought up in a world of computers and will only work for a further few years. Should they be forced to use another Accountant again against their wishes ?

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Replying to GHarr497688:
RLI
By lionofludesch
01st Jul 2021 16:36

Why don't you just apply for exemption and keep appealing until either you get it or the business ceases?

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Replying to lionofludesch:
Morph
By kevinringer
01st Jul 2021 16:48

MTD VAT has been mandated for two years, but HMRC has not done anything to enforce it other than issue a few letters which non-compliant businesses have ignored. On this basis, businesses will have at least until April 2026 with the only threat being letters. And given far more businesses will have to comply with MTD ITSA than MTD VAT, I reckon it could be many years before HMRC catch up. 2030?

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Replying to kevinringer:
By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
01st Jul 2021 18:18

@Kevin, I am seriously considering just not complying at all with this and seeing what happens, with the appropriate letters and sign offs from my clients of course to cover my backside.

My only interest is that my clients pay the right amount of tax in the most efficient manner.

I have no time for HMRC vanity projects.

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
Morph
By kevinringer
02nd Jul 2021 07:44

ireallyshouldknowthisbut wrote:

My only interest is that my clients pay the right amount of tax in the most efficient manner.


Exactly. I think that's what many of us want. A point I have made to HMRC many times. We and HMRC have this same goal, it is just HMRC think the way to achieve it is different: digital, digital, digital.

As to not complying, HMRC hasn't got the resources to enforce MTD VAT and given HMRC is going to be busy for years investigating covid support claims, when will HMRC catch up with MTD ITSA non-compliance? HMRC needs to learn its lessons from 30-day CGT. HMRC's 'pilot' (if there was one) would have been with volunteers (ie the digitally-enthusiastic who were willing to engage with HMRC) whereas the trial should have been across the board including the digitally-challenged and digitally-excluded who did not want to engage with HMRC. As a result, HMRC were not prepared for the huge numbers who couldn't complete the steps to digitally authorise an agent which has resulted in HMRC having to issue far more PPDCGT forms than anticipated. This has meant HMRC have been taking up to 100 days to process the PPDCGT forms. Which means for all my clients, it has become 130-day CGT because I've long since given up on trying to talk my clients through the process.

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Morph
By kevinringer
01st Jul 2021 13:28

Digital records are a benefit to some clients: usually the larger ones. Because this is a benefit to them, I've already got them on digital records: and that's because of the existing commercial benefits and nothing to do with MTD. But there's no benefit to the majority so they're still using whatever works for them.

I've been mentioning MTD in my client newsletters but I have no intention of converting the un-digitised to MTD yet, if at all. For one, some will have packed in before MTD ITSA kicks off: the pressures of Covid will have settled the matter for some. As for the remainder, I've obtained MTD exemption for 25% of my MTD VAT mandated clients. I intend to apply for MTD ITSA exemption for everyone I believe qualifies. I've only ever had one MTD exemption application refused so I reckon HMRC will agree to most of them. As for the remainder: April 2023 will only apply to 5 April year ends so change self-employed to 31 March will give us another 12 months. Then I'll take stock in 2024.

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Morph
By kevinringer
01st Jul 2021 16:57

HMRC seems to assume that those businesses that are compliant for MTD VAT will also be compliant for MTD ITSA. MTD is really the digitisation of transactions. VAT is a transactional tax. It is possible too teach a client how to input VAT transactions into a spreadsheet. But ITSA is a different beast. ITSA requires judgement. ITSA requires apportionment. For example, I deal with a lot of farmers who buy a wide variety of goods from agricultural merchants. VAT is simple - type in the invoice totals. But ITSA will require apportionment between capital/revenue and different expense categories: tasks that are not required for VAT. Also, MTD VAT only requires digitisation of VAT transactions whereas MTD ITSA requires digitisation of all transactions. This means that many businesses that are MTD VAT compliant will struggle to be MTD ITSA compliant. We have a simple VAT template that we supply to our clients who maintain their own VAT records. But making it ITSA compliant turns it into a different animal altogether making it beyond the ability (or time or inclination) of most clients.

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By Anthony G Thorne
01st Jul 2021 19:52

Dave Hartnett said it was impossible for anyone to understand the whole of the UK tax system so until we Make Tax Simple we cannot make it Digital. So why do HMRC ignore reality for example the 5 April year end. Also there need to be emphasis on the Keep it Simple principal as a lot of the
Cloud software has complex detailed reports which are not understood by the clients or even useful to them and especially with poor help and support. We all make mistakes even HMRC so we need ways of correct errors or misunderstandings. Bring back common sense and reality checks before we jump into another mess.

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By Mr J Andrews
02nd Jul 2021 10:34

I'm surprised HMRC didn't try and sneak in a discussion point to make just one favourable comment. Much Too Difficult.

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