From 1 April 2019, more than 1 million VAT-registered businesses will be required to digitize their accounting and VAT filing for the new HMRC Making Tax Digital (MTD) requirements. This ends manual keying-in of VAT return data on HMRC’s existing online VAT platform, which HMRC says is used for 88% of current VAT filings. HMRC will not provide software support for the mandatory changes.
Avalara has announced its new MTD Filer, a free Microsoft Excel Add-In to help businesses and charitable organisations of any size file their returns in accordance with the new HMRC obligations. The tool can be installed and used on Excel 10 and above - it is not compatible with Apple operating products. The Add-In enables both sending and receiving data via HMRC via API, making it simple for a business to file its VAT returns, and retrieve filing obligations, liabilities, and payment history. A business just simply links it to existing Excel VAT data, and click “File” within the tool to submit.
There are no charges for using Avalara's MTD Filer. Avalara does not retain, nor has access, to any VAT data used via MTD Filer.
