In a press release on October 16, 2018, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) announced that the previously reserved pilot program for Making Tax Digital (MTD) was expanded to a much larger pool of businesses. According to the statement, HMRC is now allowing half a million businesses to enter the pilot testing program for MTD, in order to fully prepare for MTD going into effect on April 1, 2019.
In addition to this expansion, HMRC announced that for a small group of customers with more complex VAT return requirements, an additional six months has been granted before MTD will impact those businesses. This six month deferral will apply to customers who fall into one of a small number of categories including the following: trusts, not for profit organizations that are not set up as a company, VAT divisions, VAT groups, those public sector entities required to provide additional information on their VAT return (Government department and NHS trusts), local authorities, public corporations, traders based overseas, those required to make payments on VAT accounts, and annual accounting scheme users. For these groups of people, the MTD mandate will be deferred until October 1, 2019.
For the official announcement from HMRC on these developments please see the press statement here. In addition, updated guidance has been provided by HMRC, which explains the new deferral, seen here.
