I don't think this is an HMRC issue (for once), it seems to be a problem with Taxfiler itself. Which is made more annoying when they've increased the fees significantly year-on-year since the IRIS takeover to provide "improvements" to the product.
I filed a few on Friday where it took a couple of hours for the email confirmation to come through, although I got the software acknowledgement immediately.
Yes, I found the various screens too much of a mess to navigate. If I go "Settings" from the top right icons, there's a tab for "Practice Management" which lets me toggle it as enabled or disabled. I'm now back to the "normal" screens with none of the clutter the PM thing introduced
I've also used both and think Taxcalc is much better for accounts production if that's a factor. The Taxfiler accounts module by comparison seems to be tacked on as an after -thought and isn't as polished or configurable.
Conversely, I find Taxfiler is considerably more efficient and easy to use for tax returns/filings and this is where it was so good at the start when it did one thing very very well.
The overall Taxcalc modules integrate more fluidly in sharing standing information and serve as a "good enough" practice management database. The recently introduced practice management screens on Taxfiler on the other hand are awful in my opinion and I've gone back to using the previous incarnation for tax return filings only.
Having used Taxcalc, Taxfiler, and tried BTC, I've settled on the usual selection of VT for accounts production, Taxfiler for filing (and Moneysoft for payroll). It probably comes down to cost and how much integration you want across the various functions, or whether you're happy to mix and match.
Thanks for the feedback, Having spoken further to the client:
- the current building was previously a care home which has been converted to individual residential units under an HMO licence with the local authority (the HMO permit is issued to the client company).
- planning considerations and health and safety has been signed off by the local authority and the client has liability insurance in place.
- he has dug out the initial agreement with the landlord which is a rolling 3-month licence to occupy the site and manage it on behalf of the landlord (which has now been in effect for over 10 months).
The licence agreement with the landlord makes reference to fixed monthly payments which are far in excess of the actual payments made. The client says he has a lengthy email chain with the landlord outlining unforseen costs and issues to get the property to an inhabitable state, in which the landlord accepts the lower payments actually made. Going forward, there will be a formal agreement which will be at a reduced fixed monthly payment to the landlord.
Given there will be a fixed payment specified in the agreement, I will treat the client company as being the Principal in respect of rents receivable, treat these as the company's turnover.
I had a similar situation and it may be the same cause if any letters sent to the client from the VAT department have been "returned to sender", they'll suspend the account until the client makes contact.
My client moved twice in a short period of time without updating records. Once he made contact, they removed the suspension and he now has to do a 9 month VAT return to bring things up to date, with no apparent penalty.
It seems to be a pecularity in the system where the VAT registration remains live/valid but no VAT return periods are "issued" on the system and no further action is taken.
I've dealt with two similar situations recently myself and a colleague is also currently trying to get figures to match up.
We had a lot of back-and-forth including debt collectors trying to enforce a non-existent underpayment and lots of wasted hours with the employer "helpline". The simplest way in the end is to raise a "disputed charge" with HMRC in writing which was eventually acknowledged and corrected in our case.
I used Sugarsync for about a year but I didn't like the revamped interface so I looked for alternatives and came across Syncplicity and Cubby. They offer 10GB and 5GB free storage respectively if you want to try them out, and so far I'm leaning towards Syncplicity as it's has a much simpler interface.
(both are Windows/Android compatible which works for my purposes)
I've got this delivered recently but haven't taken it out of the box yet so can't comment on performance yet. Gets good reviews, is multi-function and wireless for £99 delivered so could tick your boxes.
My answers
Seems to be across IRIS cloud services:
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/any-answers/iris-openspace-5
I don't think this is an HMRC issue (for once), it seems to be a problem with Taxfiler itself. Which is made more annoying when they've increased the fees significantly year-on-year since the IRIS takeover to provide "improvements" to the product.
I filed a few on Friday where it took a couple of hours for the email confirmation to come through, although I got the software acknowledgement immediately.
Yes, I found the various screens too much of a mess to navigate. If I go "Settings" from the top right icons, there's a tab for "Practice Management" which lets me toggle it as enabled or disabled. I'm now back to the "normal" screens with none of the clutter the PM thing introduced
I've also used both and think Taxcalc is much better for accounts production if that's a factor. The Taxfiler accounts module by comparison seems to be tacked on as an after -thought and isn't as polished or configurable.
Conversely, I find Taxfiler is considerably more efficient and easy to use for tax returns/filings and this is where it was so good at the start when it did one thing very very well.
The overall Taxcalc modules integrate more fluidly in sharing standing information and serve as a "good enough" practice management database. The recently introduced practice management screens on Taxfiler on the other hand are awful in my opinion and I've gone back to using the previous incarnation for tax return filings only.
Having used Taxcalc, Taxfiler, and tried BTC, I've settled on the usual selection of VT for accounts production, Taxfiler for filing (and Moneysoft for payroll). It probably comes down to cost and how much integration you want across the various functions, or whether you're happy to mix and match.
Thanks for the feedback, Having spoken further to the client:
- the current building was previously a care home which has been converted to individual residential units under an HMO licence with the local authority (the HMO permit is issued to the client company).
- planning considerations and health and safety has been signed off by the local authority and the client has liability insurance in place.
- he has dug out the initial agreement with the landlord which is a rolling 3-month licence to occupy the site and manage it on behalf of the landlord (which has now been in effect for over 10 months).
The licence agreement with the landlord makes reference to fixed monthly payments which are far in excess of the actual payments made. The client says he has a lengthy email chain with the landlord outlining unforseen costs and issues to get the property to an inhabitable state, in which the landlord accepts the lower payments actually made. Going forward, there will be a formal agreement which will be at a reduced fixed monthly payment to the landlord.
Given there will be a fixed payment specified in the agreement, I will treat the client company as being the Principal in respect of rents receivable, treat these as the company's turnover.
I had a similar situation and it may be the same cause if any letters sent to the client from the VAT department have been "returned to sender", they'll suspend the account until the client makes contact.
My client moved twice in a short period of time without updating records. Once he made contact, they removed the suspension and he now has to do a 9 month VAT return to bring things up to date, with no apparent penalty.
It seems to be a pecularity in the system where the VAT registration remains live/valid but no VAT return periods are "issued" on the system and no further action is taken.
I've dealt with two similar situations recently myself and a colleague is also currently trying to get figures to match up.
We had a lot of back-and-forth including debt collectors trying to enforce a non-existent underpayment and lots of wasted hours with the employer "helpline". The simplest way in the end is to raise a "disputed charge" with HMRC in writing which was eventually acknowledged and corrected in our case.
This link covers the problem fairly accurately:
http://www.taxadvisermagazine.com/article/really-troublesome-interactions
Syncplicity or Cubby
I used Sugarsync for about a year but I didn't like the revamped interface so I looked for alternatives and came across Syncplicity and Cubby. They offer 10GB and 5GB free storage respectively if you want to try them out, and so far I'm leaning towards Syncplicity as it's has a much simpler interface.
(both are Windows/Android compatible which works for my purposes)
Samsung 2070W: £99 from
Samsung 2070W: £99 from Amazon
I've got this delivered recently but haven't taken it out of the box yet so can't comment on performance yet. Gets good reviews, is multi-function and wireless for £99 delivered so could tick your boxes.