MTD Software

Sillysam

Sorry if this has been covered but couldn’t see anything on it. I believe in April we, as a small business, are going to have to comply with Making Tax Digital and use accounting software to upload data to HMRC. There are literally hundreds to choose from…. Any that MSE would suggest or recommend?  

Penguin_

Xero is a nice easy one to use.

simplydevine05

I use QuickBooks and have done for years. I use it in conjunction with Greenback which pulls through all of my transactions as I sell online via multiple avenues. I've found QuickBooks very helpful in the past when I have needed help.

Pennywise

Freeagent is another popular one that our clients find easy to learn and use, and it's free if you have a NatWest (or their other brands) business bank account.

But, Xero, Quickbooks and Kashflow are also good and popular. 

I'd stay away from the freebie ones (or less popular ones) as they sometimes disappear after a few years leaving you in the lurch with no/limited access to historic data.  We've had clients over the years who've had real problems when they've used products like Wave, Microsoft Accounting Express, Quicken, MYOB, etc where the product has been withdrawn.

Savvy_Sue

Obvious question, but do you have an accountant? If you do, ask them ... they'll have preferences!

DavidWright

I'm a mostly retired sole trader so trying to keep things as cheap and simple as possible. I do all my accounting using Excel spreadsheets. I'm still VAT registered so need to submit my returns using MTD. I want to stay with my spreadsheets rather than learn a new system which almost certainly won't make life easier! What's the simplest way to get my VAT figures to HMRC?

Jeremy535897

There is software at a modest cost that purports to bridge from Excel spreadsheets into MTD for VAT. Just search "MTD for VAT bridging software".

Pip1000

I upload my excel figures to Hmrc for vat using tax optimiser which was recommended to me in person by the head of making mtd who came to a meeting at my accountants.  It’s £30 a year and really easy to use.   Other bridging software is available obviously.   I thought the quarterly accounting requirement had been delayed until 2023 though?   Have I missed something?

Jeremy535897

MTD for VAT extended to voluntarily registered businesses 1 April 2022.
MTD for ITSA delayed until 6 April 2024.

MobileSaver

DavidWright said:

I'm still VAT registered so need to submit my returns using MTD. I want to stay with my spreadsheets ... What's the simplest way to get my VAT figures to HMRC?

You can submit your figures using Portico and it's completely free; they've been around for years and are even "by appointment to Her Majesty" so you can be pretty confident they'll be around for some time!

https://app.portico.openanswers.co.uk/#/

You can either import your VAT figures from an Excel .csv file or even just enter them manually like you used to on the HMRC website.

barryd999

MobileSaver said:

DavidWright said:

I'm still VAT registered so need to submit my returns using MTD. I want to stay with my spreadsheets ... What's the simplest way to get my VAT figures to HMRC?

You can submit your figures using Portico and it's completely free; they've been around for years and are even "by appointment to Her Majesty" so you can be pretty confident they'll be around for some time!

https://app.portico.openanswers.co.uk/#/

You can either import your VAT figures from an Excel .csv file or even just enter them manually like you used to on the HMRC website.

Thanks for posting this.  Dont want to hijack the thread but my wife has lumbered me with sorting this one out. I am semi retired now and winding down my business (sole trader for 21 years but VAT registered).  We use a very old version of Sage.  We are well below the threshold of having to be VAT registered so its just a legacy thing really.  I didnt even bother to check if our ancient Sage version was compatible as I know it wont be.

I was going to see if I could apply for an exemption for this but the Portico system looks pretty straight forward. What is the catch though? Why is it completely free?

So basically if  have this right all we have to do for each VAT return is find the figures for the boxes on the form, put them into Excel, export a CSV file then run them through the Portico system and thats it?