This blog was last updated on March 11, 2019
On July 13, 2017, the parliament of the United Kingdom, along with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), announced that the roll-out of the ‘Making Tax Digital for Businesses’ will be delayed until April of 2019. This initiative, first decided upon in December of 2015, is an effort by the government of the U.K., to digitize all tax records and filing obligations that U.K. registered businesses have for value added tax purposes. This move to digital technology is seen by the government as a way to reduce the amount of avoidable tax errors that have been made in recent tax filing years.
As previously reported, HMRC’s initial timetable for implementing “Making Tax Digital,” with a start date of April 2018, was criticized in both houses of Parliament. The new roll-out plan will require businesses with a turnover above the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) to keep digital records for VAT purposes only. This requirement will be imposed as of April of 2019 for businesses above the VAT threshold, and will be voluntary for smaller businesses.
