Hi Mark Thank you for all that background information which I found to be very informative. I hear, and agree with, you about the complexity of UK Taxation system and the practicality of this, but do wonder how the software developers mentioned on HMRC website got MTD status. I expect all they did was to get submission of the unadulterated records without year end adjustments etc linked to HMRC via their API. I was not aware of the HMRC motives, so that was interesting. From what you have said, it may be correct to say that the existing P&L Report would be OK for this automatic return. It would just need to be integrated with the HMRC system using their API. But I am not a programmer, so I couldn’t do this.
I have put in an enhancement request for this change and will see what happens next. Thank you for your enlightenment. Regards. Neil [email protected] > On 28 Jul 2021, at 12:24, Mark <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Neil, > > From what I understand, HMRC's stated aim for Making Tax Digital is to reduce > errors which cost the government tax money. The general approach consists of > (my interpretation): > - Making APIs which make it easier for the right information to be submitted. > - Requiring that software developers that implement the APIs do so by > creating submissions straight out of the raw accounts. Thus, there is no way > for the end user to manipulate the submission data; the data will be accurate > (if the accounts are right) and it's harder to defraud the system. > > I got to see inside the MTD process as I've implemented the MTD VAT interface > for my businesses, taking the account data out of GnuCash. In order to get > this approved for production use, I had an interview with an HMRC engineer, > shared my screen and showed the solution at work. It was relatively painless, > but the interviewer wanted to check that the general approach was right, that > there was a legal submission containing required text, and that there was no > way for the end user to change the submitted data (other than by editing the > accounts). I shared the code on GitHub, Google for gnucash-uk-vat if anyone > is interested. > > I would expect that MTD for Corporation Tax submission is going to be along > the same lines i.e. a requirement that the corporation tax return is > automatically derived from accounting records. I wonder how that will work > in reality: VAT accounting is relatively straightforward - the same > accounting approach works in lots of different countries. Corporation Tax is > a whole different kettle of fish - there are arcane rules specific to the UK: > Depreciation, two ways for getting R&D relief, and the way profit/loss is > shifted between tax years to name a few. > > Mark. > > > From April 2023, new laws in UK will require all businesses with a gross > > income of in excess of £10,000 to keep digital records for Tax returns. I > > think that there are already laws in place for record-keeping and > > submitting VAT digitally direct to HMRC. I am sure that there must be > > thousands of GNUCash users who will be affected. > > > > This may seem a long way away, but can one of the developers please confirm > > that GNUCash either complies already (I can’t find anything in the Menu’s > > that relates to VAT or the collection thereof) or the matter is in hand and > > GNUCash will comply before April 2023. > _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
