Making Tax Digital implementation date extended

Some organisations with more complex VAT registration arrangements will benefit from a deferral of the implementation date to 1 October 2019.

Does it apply to you?

HMRC's guidance says that the deferral will apply to the following entities.

• Trusts
• Not for profit organisations that are not set up as a company
• VAT divisions
• VAT groups
• Public sector entities required to provide additional information on their VAT return (government departments, NHS Trusts)
• Local authorities
• Public corporations
• Traders based overseas
• Those required to make payments on account
• Annual accounting scheme users

For those organisations not on this list, the planned implementation of MTD for VAT remains effective from 1 April 2019.

What this means

The above list has wide application. Of particular significance is the deferral for those who are required to make payments on account and those organisations that are members of a VAT group. For organisations made-up of multiple entities it could lead to a phased implementation where entities A, B and C who are members of a common VAT group benefit from deferral, but entity D which is separately VAT registered will be subject to the MTD for VAT requirements from 1 April 2019.

This deferral will be welcome news to a significant number of more than 600 attendees of our recent MTD for VAT webinar, who indicated that the complexity of their VAT arrangements meant that they felt that there was insufficient time to prepare for the changes. However, it does add another layer of complexity in needing to assess whether or not a particular VAT registration qualifies for the deferral.

Further support