Making Tax Digital marks the end of paper reports

by Startacus Admin

The new Making Tax initiative waves goodbye to paper reports once and for all. As it started from the beginning of April 2019 here's a handy overview.

Just when we think we've found our stride amidst business meetings various, marketing efforts, managing your staff, and stressing over making ends meet - we get hit with another curveball. As if running your own startup wasn't difficult enough - we've now got new tax regulations to contend with. Ahh the exciting world of the startup!

As of April 2019, all companies turning over £85,000 or more per annum must now abide by new HMRC guidelines when it comes to submitting their all-important financial data. That's right, HMRC have not only gone green but they've saved us god-knows how much storage space by taking the whole VAT process digital. This is what is being referred to rather accurately as the 'Making Tax Digital' movement.

Never fear, though. As always, you can leave it to Startacus to shed a little light on your startup woes - and as it turns out - this new digital switcheroo may not be so bad after all. In fact, it can actually work very much in favour of the startup. Let us explain...

The new MTD initiative will wave goodbye to paper reports once and for all, instead making way for the digital heroes - software suppliers such as Xero, Quickbooks and Sage to name a few - to swoop in and make the whole process much more streamlined.

Moving the VAT process online has many pros - accessibility being just one. With all financial data now kept in the cloud, businesses now have the luxury of easily recalling and gaining access to files at the touch of a button. Furthermore, with many of the MTD software options offering apps alongside desktop versions, multiple users can now upload data, invoices and receipts on the move!

By far the most enticing feature of Making Tax Digital though, certainly to the startup, is that by inputting our numbers into software, it enables us to automate almost everything accounts-related. At just one click, we now have access to extremely accurate and up-to-date financial information.

As a startup, you'll appreciate just how precious every penny is and the importance of making sure every single one is accounted for. You'll likely have something of a growth strategy in place, too, and many of the compatible software options out there can help you a great deal here too. What is revenue looking like in years 2-3 if we carry on at this pace? What about if growth accelerates? Are we spending out too much on marketing? Do I have a comprehensive, current rundown of all profits and losses? All of this info is now automatically generated, up-to-date, and presented in colourful graphs and pie charts ready for your perusal. Now you're really on track to dazzle at those investor meetings!

Many startups undervalue just how much financial analytics can speed up growth. In fact, most small businesses treat accounting as something of a retrospective exercise - not one that can provide valuable insight as to the future. If you really study the numbers - the trends and the rhythms - you can actually boost your budding business tenfold.

This new MTD initiative stands to help businesses access and present financial data with ease, and therefore have a much more accurate idea of where you stand at any given moment. If that's not music to the entrepreneurial ear, then we don't know what is.

We've also teamed up with online business resource, QuoteGrab to compile all of the need-to-know VAT info for you. That way, you've got all the time in the world to invest where it matters - your business. Check out - and even download - QuoteGrab's handy graphic to help guide you through the tricky tax shift that kicked off earlier this month..."

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Published on: 10th April 2019