One of the speaker sessions that I particularly enjoyed at Accountex 2018 was by the HMRC’s Heather Elliot.
The title of her talk wasn’t all that snappy: “To Raise Awareness of, and Engagement with MTD… (wait, it’s not finished yet) Specifically in the Area of VAT and ITSA.”
Yet Heather, who is part of the (also unsnappily titled) Customer Readiness and External Stakeholder Team (CREST) in Making Tax Digital for Business, did exactly that. She raised awareness of MTD … and in an entertaining, informative and level-headed way.
Show of hands
Towards the end of her session, Heather asked the audience for a show of hands from those who had signed up for the HMRC’s MTD updates on the gov.uk website. I was pretty surprised when only three or so from an assembled 70 or so raised there hands.
I think Heather was, too. Although I’m sure a few more accountants will be signed up for the updates now. Because Heather said we should prepare for some pretty important MTD VAT and income tax pilot announcements “over the next couple of months”.
HMRC MTD software and VAT pilot for agents
In the latest update, posted last week, there are a series of videos and webinars on MTD. For instance, there’s a YouTube video about the basics of the Making Tax Digital pilot for Income Tax. Or you could catch up with the latest available webinar about the agent services and income tax pilot. Or you could check out the latest webinar about the VAT pilot for agents.
Another development comes in the shape of an additional two company names to the HMRC software supplier list. Joining IRIS and Rhino are Absolute and Forbes.
Forbes was established in 1993 by David Forbes and is based in Milton Keynes. The company produces a range of taxation and other software, aimed at the
accountancy and legal professions. “All our software is written specifically for Windows,” the group says.
Research and development
“We also remain dedicated to research and development. It is not our policy to let other people bear the brunt of research and development costs.”
Absolute Accounting Software was set up by Tim Good and Giles Mooney in 2010. The Oxfordshire group says: “We supply tax and accounting software to over 3,000 customers ranging from sole practitioners to multi-office firms of accountants. The aim of the company is to deliver best of breed software at the most competitive prices backed up by the best support team in the market.”
Both suppliers feature: digital record keeping; updates to HMRC for self-employment; updates to HMRC for UK property (excluding furnished holiday lettings); and tax estimates from HMRC based on provided updates.
Heather expects more names to be added to the list soon…