It’s today. It’s exactly one month until every UK business with an £85k-plus annual turnover needs to be signed up for HMRC’s making tax digital for VAT. Anything is possible!
Unsurprising then that one of the world’s leading accounting software groups, Intuit QuickBooks, has been polishing its MTD narrative to near-perfection.
The story goes like this: Intuit has got the backs of the UK’s biggest driver of economic success, small business. And, yes, you guessed it: Anything is possible!
QuickBooks provides entrepreneurs with all the technology necessary to do their books accurately, easily and digitally. From capturing receipts and tracking mileage to complying with the government’s digital tax policy. Intuit can even make Excel spreadsheets digital-friendly.
Small business dynamos
Plus, it links the UK’s legion of small business dynamos via an online network to the best business advisers in town, the accountants.
It’s a win win… the business owner can get on with being entrepreneurial and the accountant no longer gets bogged down in number crunching.
But that’s not all.
QuickBooks has partnered with a group of economists to prepare a report laying out the knock-on benefits of MTD. And they are not insignificant.
Physics genius
All this came to light this week at QuickBooks Connect, Intuit’s coolly impressive annual London expo, which this year (at Old Billingsgate) had the group’s latest product innovations sharing the stage with physics genius/presenter/author Brian Cox.
It proved a compelling mix and, alongside some weirdly warm February weather, had scores of small business folk and accountants scratching their heads, looking forward to the future and removing their winter coats in equal measure.
Brian is very Twitter-vocal on Brexit but he chose to stick with the simpler subject of explaining the universe at QB Connect…
Anyway, back to the report. The Productivity Payout: UK Small Businesses and the Digital Economy basically charts a digital roadmap that could “catalyse up to a £57bn productivity payout for UK SMEs over five years”.
Net gains in turnover
According to the authors: “Making Tax Digital, the digitisation of VAT in April 2019 will immediately yield an annual benefit of £6.9bn, or £46bn over five years in net gains in turnover and growth for the UK economy.”
The report by Volterra, an independent economic consultancy in association with Intuit QuickBooks, is basd on an economic model – based on predicted behaviours of small business owners as a result of social and financial drivers.
It demonstrates that once businesses integrate technology to become MTD compliant, a “digital snowball”effect is likely to occur as they experience so-called spill-over benefits.
Digital-led approach
Chris Evans, UK chief at QuickBooks, says: “Now is the time for small businesses to embrace digital with unabated optimism. Today’s report highlights that a digital-led approach will be transformational for small businesses, who are the backbone of the UK economy.
“For those businesses, the transition to digital will not be without stumbling blocks. However, it presents a huge opportunity to streamline operations, drive efficiencies and simplify tax. It will enhance cashflow management and allow them to get paid faster and access capital to grow, powering prosperity across the UK.”
The model predicts the largest productivity benefit of digital adoption will be felt by London and the south-east.
Review and experiment
Peter Jarman, of PJCO Accountants, Sussex, adds: “Using new technology and software was in the first place new to us, but we hired a new graduate workforce who were able to review and experiment with the software before coming back to us with a suite of software that served our needs. I then felt confident in our ability to use it to help our clients.
“The benefits of getting stuck in and using online software has been almost endless. No longer do I need to contact clients for their records and can review their books at any time from anywhere. I can even integrate other business apps seamlessly to save time and money.
“I can see how that one small nudge from something like MTD will be a pivotal moment in the digital revolution for businesses in the south-east. I’d encourage all small businesses to take on all the support offered and tackle the hurdles – the benefits are more than worth it.”