Making Tax Digital

[seeourbee]

If I needed a new account that would be good but I've had a business account for 13 years. Looking at the site looks like it will cost about £200 pa which is higher than I hoped. Certainly don't need things like corp tax forecasting (?!) or tax filing. Are there any packages - just for VAT - cheaper ?

[Alchemy Accountancy]

I believe you get it free with a bank account. Natwest is it? Lots of good accountants offer it free as part of the packages as well so effectively free.

Yes, you get a free subscription with both RBS and Natwest (same ownership).

As NLUK suggests, a lot of accountants will include it in their package, and, as has already been proven in this thread, using an accountant is a better way of getting things right first time (and often cheaper than having to go back and fix it later on).

[seeourbee]

I don't need an accountant as I am one, and have successfully traded for many years this way. What I don't want is to have to spend £1500 or whatever on accountant service that I don't need just to facilitate a VAT software switch. Hence looking for a cheap software solution.

[Alchemy Accountancy]

I don't need an accountant as I am one, and have successfully traded for many years this way. What I don't want is to have to spend £1500 or whatever on accountant service that I don't need just to facilitate a VAT software switch. Hence looking for a cheap software solution.

One of the other accountants that has posted on here suggested bridging software for this - that would certainly cheaper than a full bookkeeping software, and would allow you to continue as you are (until the scope of MTD is extended at least).

I haven't used any bridging software (I doubt many will have done yet) so can't make a recommendation as such. However I know that TaxCalc have released some bridging software - I use their software for tax and accounts production and rate it highly so would start there.

You will find a full list of MTD compliant softwares here, some may be cheaper if price is the motivator.

[vatmtd]

I'd like to add that you don't need to submit under MTD until at least June 2019. Bare in mind that registration with HMRC takes 3 days, although they are bound to get backlogged nearer the time.

If you want a really simple way to submit a VAT return and comply with MTD, search for VAT MTD on the Apple App Store as we made a small/simple product for individuals that want basic submission on a Mac, iPhone or iPad.