In a recent article the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales have asked the Revenue to delay the roll out of making tax digital for VAT purposes which is due to become into play for most VAT registered businesses for their VAT return periods starting after 1 April 2019.
The Institute’s research shows that 40% of businesses are completely unaware of the changes facing them and as many of 25% are still using paper based accounting systems which will not be permissible under the new rules.
The ICAEW research indicates that only 54% of VAT registered businesses currently use accounting software and 20% of businesses that will need to make changes to their accounting systems have not made any preparations as yet.
We can back this up by our own research; we have recently written to business who we believe will have to make changes to accommodate the new system for VAT return submissions and we have not received any replies or enquiries as a result.
There appears to be a lot of heads buried in the sand.
