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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reached a “significant milestone” in the rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD) with the first quarterly filing deadline for VAT in August, according to a report by the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).
HMRC said it has been “encouraged” by the number of businesses that have signed up and submitted their VAT returns through MTD, and there are now nearly one million businesses in the service who have made over 900,000 VAT submissions.
As of 7 August, 370,000 (76%) VAT registered businesses above the threshold in stagger 1 had signed up.
This is in line with HMRC expectations, particularly given the public commitment that HMRC had made up front to taking a “light touch approach” to digital record keeping and filing penalties during the first year.
A statement by the AAT read: “The focus during this period has been to support businesses moving to MTD to get it right and not to unnecessarily penalise businesses who are doing their best to make the transition.
“HMRC is now writing to the businesses who did not sign up to encourage them to join as soon as possible and expect numbers to increase significantly in the coming weeks as a result. HMRC took this approach with monthly filers, whose first return through MTD was due by 7 June and 89% (40,000) of that group have now joined the service.”
