Making Tax Digital

[Rovinghawk]

PurpleMoonlight said:

I suspect their main purpose is to collect more tax.

I'd say it's more about power & control.

[PurpleMoonlight]

Rovinghawk said:

I'd say it's more about power & control.

Which collects more tax.

[Eric Mc]

Rovinghawk said:

PurpleMoonlight said:

I suspect their main purpose is to collect more tax.

I'd say it's more about power & control.

Correct.

Effectively, MTD gives HMRC as a matter of course, the power and insight into a business' activities that they could only obtain by launching formal legal proceedings under current tax law.

It is a big brother" approach to taxation.

[Rovinghawk]

PurpleMoonlight said:

Which collects more tax.

No- it's snooping for the purpose of feeling powerful.

[plasticpig]

Eric Mc said:

I thought so.

When you say "companies", do you mean you are dealing with many limited comapnies (plural) or are you referring to one business only and really meant to say "company's".

And is your "company" a firm of accountants or do you work in industry?

Just trying to get a feel for your background.

People who are restricted to one organisation which may be computer savvy don't always have a good or realistic view of the real world where there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who are, in reality, quite scared of IT.

Edited by Eric Mc on Sunday 17th September 15:12

Many ltd companies. Smallest we deal is about 1 million turnover. My company develops ERP software. So has SOP, POP, Inventory, Manufacturing, General \ Nominal ledger, Fixed Asset modules. We don't do payroll though.

[Eric Mc]

HMRC is under the misapprehension that businesses always err on the side of underpaying their taxes. They think that this new system will ensure they DO pay more taxes. There is no guarantee that this will be the result for HMRC. All it will do of course is ensure that businesses become bogged down in filing and reporting procedures to satisfy government insatiable appetite for data.

[Eric Mc]

plasticpig said:

Many ltd companies. Smallest we deal is about 1 million turnover. My company develops ERP software. So has SOP, POP, Inventory, Manufacturing, General \ Nominal ledger, Fixed Asset modules. We don't do payroll though.

So the SMALLEST is £1 million turnover. That would represent my BIGGEST.

I would expect a business turning over £1 million to be fairly up to speed with IT and accounting matters. However, there are hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses which struggle to keep up to date with the latest and best of everything. Having a government ramming IT down their throats is a bit much.

I have some clients who openly admit that they are not comfortable with e-mails.

[Rovinghawk]

I'm fairly good with IT.

What I have a problem with is ever-increasing bureaucracy & HMRC who exist to spend all day doing HMRC paperwork & can't understand that I don't exist to do paperwork for them.

To paraphrase Tolkein, everything getting in shorter supply except rules.

[Eric Mc]

I'm convinced that civilisations come to an end when they get bogged down in paperwork (or the modern equivalent).

[plasticpig]

Eric Mc said:

So the SMALLEST is £1 million turnover. That would represent my BIGGEST.

I would expect a business turning over £1 million to be fairly up to speed with IT and accounting matters. However, there are hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses which struggle to keep up to date with the latest and best of everything. Having a government ramming IT down their throats is a bit much.

I have some clients who openly admit that they are not comfortable with e-mails.

You would be in for a shock then. I have found myself explaining how VAT triangulation works to a fully qualified accountant (CIMA IIRC).

[Rovinghawk]

Eric- I think I've disagreed with you on other topics but I'm 100% in agreement with you on this.

[Eric Mc]

plasticpig said:

Eric Mc said:

So the SMALLEST is £1 million turnover. That would represent my BIGGEST.

I would expect a business turning over £1 million to be fairly up to speed with IT and accounting matters. However, there are hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses which struggle to keep up to date with the latest and best of everything. Having a government ramming IT down their throats is a bit much.

I have some clients who openly admit that they are not comfortable with e-mails.

You would be in for a shock then. I have found myself explaining how VAT triangulation works to a fully qualified accountant (CIMA IIRC).

What has VAT Triangulation got to do with forcing Making Tax Digital on smaller, non IT savvy, businesses?

Edited by Eric Mc on Sunday 17th September 17:05

[Eric Mc]

Rovinghawk said:

Eric- I think I've disagreed with you on other topics but I'm 100% in agreement with you on this.

It's not compulsory that somebody has to disagrees with a particular somebody else all the time.

Over my 40 plus years in accountancy I have watched regulation just grow and grow exponentially. It is becoming crushing.

[plasticpig]

Eric Mc said:

What has VAT Triangulation got to do with forcing Making Tax Digital on smaller, non IT savvy, businesses?

Edited by Eric Mc on Sunday 17th September 17:05

I am pointing out that your expectations that larger businesses are up to speed with IT and accounting matters is not necessarily correct. I have seen two enquiries from customers about MTD. We won't actually be telling them all what we are doing until after the beta API is released.
They may all be assuming we will do something but I suspect some of them actually don't know about it yet.

[Smiler.]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

You know this because.............?

[Rovinghawk]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I didn't say i spend all day on paperwork- I said I object to HMRC's demands that I should.

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Why should I do more & more work for HMRC for no good purpose to me? I use software TYVM but I object to needless bureaucracy from a parasitic organisation which seems to be doing its best to kill the host.

[Smiler.]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Well good for you. The software I use is the one my account also uses. It currently doesn't have MTD functions. Why should I & undoubtedly thousands of other businesses have to change it?

Of course, we shouldn't.

It suits you, what with being the centre of your universe. Not mine though.

[Rovinghawk]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I wish I were as good at business as you. How I've survived the last 25 years without your acumen is a great mystery.

" I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help. "
Ronald Reagan.

[ninja-lewis]

Smiler. said:

Well good for you. The software I use is the one my account also uses. It currently doesn't have MTD functions. Why should I & undoubtedly thousands of other businesses have to change it?

Of course, we shouldn't.

It suits you, what with being the centre of your universe. Not mine though.

Out of interest, what software do you use?

[jammy-git]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Huh? Why would the creators of accountancy software NOT build MTD features into their software? It would be signing their own death warrant not to.

I use Xero and as one of the most popular accountancy packages used in the UK I have no concerns that they'll bring in MTD features and that it'll be a minimal amount of extra work for me (just like RTI was).