Digital scheme widens but many firms still frozen out
The government has expanded access to its Help to Grow: Digital scheme, offering discounts of up to £5,000 on digital technology, but questions remain about the exclusion of small unincorporated businesses and the limited number of participating vendors.
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Why not Xero. I think of Xero as one of the big three. All others are comparatively less influential.
Very limited options and only available to companies that have been around for a year and coped without such software
Probably not able to confirm take-up as so few have done so
Sounds to me like a pointless initiative unless new traders and start ups can partake
So underwhelmed that I can't be bothered to research more details ... but what does this mean:
"Eligible businesses receive a one-time financial discount towards the purchase of one approved software product up to a maximum of £5,000 that covers 12 months’ worth of 'core costs'"
* 'purchase'? I thought almost all of these were only available via annual subscription?
* 'core costs'? Any services in addition to the software licence (implementation/data transfer/etc)?
* 'one-time financial discount'? Is there another kind of discount? And what happens in year 2?
Seems to me this is just a government sponsored, "first year free" deal to lock people in to a particular product where profits will be made in year two onwards.
Not something Gvt should be getting involved with in any way, shape or measure IMO.
These schemes generally seem to be just money makers for the middle firms administrating them. Cynically I would suggest run by pals of those who are "lobbied" into introducing them.
When we started we got £1000 "grant" toward broadband. Great but in terms of state aid we were notified the overall cost was almost £4k so someone had done very nicely out of the (at the time ) EU taxpayers.
We sell SaaS reservation software for restaurants , simpleER.com, that is eminently affordable but we were turned down as suppliers.
Your own fault for being too inexpensive
The middleman wants high costs to be able to rook the state aid grant system
Badly thought out scheme, pointless offering £5000 for a £20 per month subscription. Offer £5000 to implement digital systems ie, pay us to do it and you would get some traction.
If they want MTD to go ahead as its is so key to closing tax black hole, offer £1000 towards the cost of setting up for small business and you might get some takers.
It is ironic that the businesses that must comply with MTD ITSA are 100% excluded from this scheme and the businesses that can apply for this scheme are not (and never will be) required to comply with MTD ITSA.
It is probably better to offer £5,000 payments to people to part cover the costs of an Accountant to assist them with choosing, setting up and using Accounting and other Financial Software as well as providing valuable advice on taxation, running a business and other specialist services that Accountants excel at.
So far I have not seen one penny offered as an incentive to Accountants to assist with the introduction of MTD, yet it seems we are key to its success?
I looked at this sceme when it first came out and it was vistually impossible to spend £5000 because all the software is SAS subscription based. It would be difficult for a small business to spend £500 pa!
I was so annoyed that I offered to take part in feedback but all they wanted to know about is the design of their website. They must have thought the poor takeup was because people couldn't navigate the website rather than the scheme itself. My comments fell on very deaf ears.
Totally! It was designed by someone who last worked in the 90's.
Also, a shame they did not take you up on their offer - they badly need external, independent advice from people with their feet on the ground.