Penalty warning for businesses that enrolled too early

The Association of Taxation Technicians is advising businesses that signed up for Making Tax Digital (MTD) but have yet to file their latest VAT return to act urgently to avoid penalties.

Jon Stride co-chair of the association’s technical steering group said: ‘Once a business has signed up to MTD it must submit all VAT returns – including those for periods starting before 1 April 2019 using MTD-compliant software. This could cause problems if the business signs up before submitting its final return under the pre-MTD rules.’

Mr Stride added: ‘We strongly recommend that businesses which signed up too early and now find that they are struggling to file their returns under MTD should prioritise paying their VAT on time to ensure that they do not receive a penalty. They should contact their software provider and HMRC as soon as possible to try and resolve their filing problems. 

‘It is also...