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HMRC's Talking Points webinars are designed to provide information, guidance and tips on tax issues. See the list of Talking Points webinars coming up. There are a limited number of spaces, so save your place now. If you have any questions about what the review means for your clients, please send them to team.agentengagement@hmrc.gov.uk prior to the webinar, including the title of the webinar in the ‘Subject’ line of your email. We will answer as many as we can on the day. Off-payroll working rules from April 2020:Choose a date and time VAT reverse charge on construction services: Choose a date and time Making Tax Digital – latest update: Choose a date and time Capital Allowances for the self-employed: Wednesday 4 March – midday to 1pm Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay: Thursday 12 March  – midday to 1pm

Currently, the scope of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT only covers submission of VAT returns. Other services are not currently included and these continue to be available in their previous form except for submissions of a Reverse Charge Sales List (RCSL). RCSL returns cannot be filed by businesses that have signed up to MTD for VAT. HMRC’s service availability page reads as follows in that respect: ‘Customers that have signed up to Making Tax Digital for VAT are not yet able to submit details of their Reverse-Charge Sales List returns using this service. We are working to provide the functionality to allow you to do this. In the meantime if you have joined Making Tax Digital and are required to continue making Reverse-Charge Sales List declarations, you should continue to keep the relevant records and information. No penalties will be charged as a result of any delay.’  

Updated MTD for income tax software and guidance on VAT groups feature this week. Check the status of overseas corporate lenders who are passport holders for double tax relief on UK loan interest Search the updated HMRC list of professional bodies approved for tax relief Business promotions (VAT Notice 700/7) has been updated The list of software that’s compatible with Making Tax Digital for income tax has been updated Updated guidance on VAT groups has been published See changes to the VAT MOSS rate for other countries HMRC has published an off-payroll working factsheet for contractors covering the reforms to the off-payroll working (IR35) rules from April 2020 Scotland is to go ahead with a Budget on 6 February 

Listed below are forthcoming online HMRC events.  HMRC ask that you register at least five minutes before a digital meeting is due to start.   Trade losses: Choose a date and time Basis periods: Choose a date and time Off-payrolling working rules from April 2020: Choose a date and time How to show self-employed business expenses on the tax return: Tuesday 14 January – 1pm to 2pm Income from property for individual landlords – part 1:Thursday 16 January – 11am to midday Capital allowances and vehicles: Choose a date and time Income from property for individual landlords – part 2: Thursday 23 January – 11am to midday If you have any questions for HMRC’s subject experts more than 24 hours prior to the meeting, please send them to team.agentengagement@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk, including the title of the meeting in the ‘Subject’ line of your email. Any questions that arise after this time should be submitted during the live meeting. These interactive meetings run on the ‘GoToWebinar’ platform. The organiser will run through how to ask questions on the day. Upcoming meetings are set out. If you were unable to join HMRC on some of the latest Talking Points webinars, this is your opportunity to catch up. Some recordings may only be available for a short period of time, so make sure you don’t miss out.  An overview of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme: Register and view Income from property for individual landlords – part 1: Register and view Income from property for individual landlords – part 2: Register and view Statutory sick pay – what needs to be considered when an employee is sick: Register and view How to show self-employed business expenses on your tax return: Register and view

HMRC are currently undertaking scheduled maintenance to the Making Tax Digital (“MTD”) for VAT service until 5pm today Monday 25th November. The scheduled closure, is to enable the release of some additional functionality, including: a repayment tracker for MTD taxpayers to be able to see the status of their repayment; supporting taxpayers to change their business telephone number and web address through our change of circumstances service; allowing taxpayers who have left the service to be able to sign up again; and allowing businesses and agents to view and print copies of their returns through the Business Tax Account Until 5pm today, taxpayers and their agents will be unable to:  access their Business Tax Account for VAT; update change of circumstances; access Agent Services; sign up to the MTD service. Please note that the ability to submit through software will still be available. Details of the service maintenance is available on the VAT service availability pages.

Read the latest on Making Tax Digital and the trust registration service in last month’s update.

Do you use HMRC online services? Don’t be caught out by the planned downtime to some services. HMRC are warning about the non-availability of specific services on the HMRC website, a range of services are impacted. Check the relevant page for information on planned downtime. Due to scheduled maintenance you will be unable to set up, view, cancel or amend Direct Debits using HMRC’S Making Tax Digital onine service from 6am to 7am on Tuesday 19 November 2019.

Listed below are forthcoming online HMRC events.  HMRC ask that you register at least five minutes before a digital meeting is due to start.  If you have any questions for HMRC’s subject experts more than 24 hours prior to the meeting, please send them to team.agentengagement@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk, including the title of the meeting in the ‘Subject’ line of your email. Any questions that arise after this time should be submitted during the live meeting. These interactive meetings run on the ‘GoToWebinar’ platform. The organiser will run through how to ask questions on the day. Upcoming meetings are set out. Making Tax Digital – your Agent Services Account: Choose a date and time Off-payrolling working rules from A‌pr‌il 2‌02‌0: Choose a date and time Expenses and benefits – social functions and parties: Tuesday 3 December – 3pm to 4pm Expenses and benefits for employers – phones, internet and homeworking: Thursday 5 December – 2pm to 3pm Expenses and benefits for employers – phones, internet and homeworking: Thursday 5 December – 2pm to 3pm How to show self-employed business expenses on the tax return: Tuesday 10 December – 1pm to 2pm Income from Property for Individual Landlords – Part 1: Wednesday 11 December 11am – midday  

Listed below are forthcoming online HMRC events.  HMRC ask that you register at least five minutes before a digital meeting is due to start.  If you have any questions for HMRC’s subject experts more than 24 hours prior to the meeting, please send them to team.agentengagement@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk, including the title of the meeting in the ‘Subject’ line of your email. Any questions that arise after this time should be submitted during the live meeting. These interactive meetings run on the ‘GoToWebinar’ platform. The organiser will run through how to ask questions on the day. Upcoming meetings are set out. Getting ready for Brexit: Choose a date and time Making Tax Digital – your Agent Services Account: Choose a date and time Off-payrolling working rules from A‌pr‌il 2‌02‌0: Choose a date and time National Minimum Wage – How to carry out checks to ensure compliance with minimum wage legislation: Wednesday 6 November – 11am to midday Transitional Simplified Procedures: Choose a date and time Making Tax Digital – latest update: Choose a date and time Missed recent Talking Points events of interest? this is your opportunity to catch up. Some may only be available for a short period of time, so make sure you don’t miss out. Statutory Sick Pay – Register and view VAT Flat Rate Scheme: Register and view Income from Property for Individual Landlords – Part 1: Register and view Income from Property for Individual Landlords – Part 2: Register and view

In an unexpected move, last week HMRC announced that it is opening up a new process which, on application and acceptance by HMRC, will allow some businesses longer to meet the digital links requirement under Making Tax Digital for VAT, once the one year soft landing period from the original mandation date for MTD ends (either from 1 April 2020 or 1 October 2020). HMRC have also updated the relevant VAT notice. “For periods starting on or after 1 April 2019, most VAT-registered businesses with turnover above the threshold have been required to keep their records digitally and send their VAT returns to HMRC direct from the underlying data in those digital records.  In recognition of the fact that some businesses would need more time to digitise the links between their internal systems to fully meet the requirements of Making Tax Digital (MTD), we allowed a 1 year ‘soft-landing’ period from their original mandation date for these digital links to be in place.   Today we opened the process for customers to apply for additional time, if needed, to put digital links in place in order to comply with the requirements of MTD. This additional time will be provided for businesses with complex or legacy IT systems, who are unable to comply with MTD digital links requirements by the end of the initial soft-landing period. Businesses need to ensure that by the end of their soft-landing period their systems are digitally linked where any data is transferred or exchanged. Through our engagement with stakeholders we are aware that some businesses, with complex or legacy IT systems, may require a longer period to put digital links in place across their MTD software to meet their legal MTD for VAT requirements. Therefore, we have opened a process for customers to apply for additional time. The criteria for making an application and how to apply are set out in the VAT Notice 700/22, section 4.2.1.3 - www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-70022-making-tax-digital-for-vat.  Applications must be received by HMRC by the end of a business’ soft-landing period.” END OF HMRC COMMUNICATION

HMRC has advised that scheduled maintenance is taking place to the Making Tax Digital (“MTD”) VAT service from Saturday 21 September at 16:00 until Monday 23 September at 16:00, during which time the MTD service for VAT will be closed. During this period, taxpayers and their agents will be unable to: Sign up for Making Tax Digital for VAT, Create an Agent services account (although all other Agent services will be available), Submit VAT returns, View previous submissions and payment details, Set up new or cancel and amend existing direct debits, Review and update any business details, Access the Business Tax Account to view or change details.   Further details can be found on the VAT and ITSA service availability pages:   VAT - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-tax-digital-for-vat-service-availability-and-issues/making-tax-digital-for-vat-service-availability-and-issues ITSA - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-software-to-send-income-tax-updates-service-availability-and-issues/use-software-to-send-income-tax-updates-service-availability-and-issues

HMRC recently sent the below update on Making Tax Digital (“MTD”) which sets out its approach to enforcing compliance in the first year of MTD. Update from HMRC “The government has confirmed a light touch approach to penalties in the first year of implementation of MTD VAT. Where businesses are doing their best to comply, no filing or record keeping penalties will be issued.  The department’s main priority is to support taxpayers to transition to MTD smoothly, so it will not penalise businesses, instead we will send them a letter encouraging them to join without further delay [where businesses failed to sign up in time for their first MTD filing deadline].  We are trialling two different approaches based on compliance and behavioral insight. For each approach, there are two versions of the letter – one includes a disclaimer for businesses where the information we hold suggests their taxable turnover may be below the VAT registration threshold.    Following feedback on the letter issued to monthly filers, we have amended the letter to make the disclaimer more prominent – it is now at the outset.  Sanctions will remain possible in cases of deliberate non-compliance, and in order to safeguard VAT revenue.”  

HMRC have asked us to share their latest update on Making Tax Digital. Click ‘Read More’ to see this. The latest Making Tax Digital Agent Update has also been published. “On 7 August we reached a significant milestone in the rollout of MTD, with the first quarterly filing deadline for VAT.  This therefore seems like a good moment to update you on how the new service is progressing and to thank you for the important role you have played in getting us to this point. We have been encouraged by the numbers who have signed up and submitted their VAT returns through MTD. There are now nearly one million businesses in the service who have made over 900,000 VAT submissions. As at 7 August 370,000 (76%) VAT registered businesses above the threshold in stagger 1 had signed up.  This is in line with our expectations, particularly given the public commitment we made up front to taking a light touch approach to digital record keeping and filing penalties during the first year. Our focus during this period has been to support businesses moving to MTD to get it right, not to unnecessarily penalise businesses who are doing their best to make the transition. We are now writing to the businesses who did not sign up to encourage them to join as soon as possible and expect numbers to increase significantly in the coming weeks as a result. We took this approach with monthly filers, whose first return through MTD was due by 7 June. 89% (40,000) of that group have now joined the service.  We are also continuing to see non-mandated customers joining on a voluntary basis and sign ups from businesses in stagger 2 (179,000) and stagger 3 (124,000) are accelerating in advance of their first submission deadlines on 7 September and 7 October respectively. In the period leading up to the stagger 1 filing deadline on 7 August the service performed well, handling high volumes of traffic.  Over 60,000 submissions were filed per day at peak times and 19 businesses even filed their returns in the minute before midnight. Businesses and agents also rose to the challenge. We understand that in getting to a position where they felt comfortable submitting their first returns under MTD many have invested significant time and effort to research and prepare. We would like to thank all of those who worked so hard to make this a smooth transition for the majority of businesses. Those who have now switched to digital record keeping and signed up and submitted their first return have taken the biggest step in the MTD for VAT journey. Once businesses are set up and get used to a new way of doing things, they’ll be better placed to take full advantage of the benefits that the move to digital brings. We know that being able to get support through the VAT helpline is very important for customers. That’s why we deployed additional staff to the helpline in late July in anticipation of a peak in demand in advance of the 7 August deadline, helping deliver an average wait during that week of five minutes. The helpline achieved an average wait time of less than five minutes for the whole month of June and for most of July, with the exception of two weeks in July (commencing 1 and 29 July in the build up to peak weeks) when average wait times rose to around seven minutes before returning to normal levels. Whilst we are pleased with the progress we have made it is important to acknowledge that a small proportion of customers experienced issues when trying to meet their obligations and I am sorry for the frustration and worry this may have caused.  We will continue to improve the service so that in future every customer is able to experience the smooth process that was enjoyed by the majority. Over the coming return deadlines we will continue to monitor progress in the roll out of the VAT service and take stock of the lessons learned when considering the future direction of MTD.” END OF HMRC UPDATE

Forthcoming online HMRC webinars are listed. HMRC ask that you register at least five minutes before the relevant webinar is due to start.   Making Tax Digital – your Agent Services Account: Choose a date and time New VAT reverse charge for construction services: Tuesday 10 September – 10am to 11am Income from property Part 1: Thursday 12 September – 10am to 11am Income from property Part 2: Thursday 12 September – midday to 1pm Off-payrolling working rules from April 2020: Friday 20 September  – 2pm to 3pm New VAT reverse charge for construction services: Monday 30 September – midday to 1pm If you have any questions for HMRC’s subject experts more than 24 hours prior to the meeting, please send them to team.agentengagement@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk, including the title of the meeting in the ‘Subject’ line of your email. Any questions that arise after this time should be submitted during the live meeting. These interactive meetings run on the ‘GoToWebinar’ platform. The organiser will run through how to ask questions on the day. Upcoming meetings are set out. Missed recent Talking Points events? If you weren’t able to join HMRC on some of the latest Talking Points webinars then this is your opportunity to catch up. Some may only be available for a short period of time – so make sure you don’t miss out. The following webinar recordings are currently available: New VAT reverse charge for construction services: Register and view Making Tax Digital - Your Agent Services Account: Register and view Stamp Duty Land Tax – Higher Rates for Additional Dwellings – Back to Basics: Register and view Capital Allowances and Vehicles: Register and view

7 August 2019 was the first quarterly return deadline for businesses required to report VAT under Making Tax Digital (“MTD”). We’d like to hear about the MTD experiences of agents and businesses. Contact Leontia Doran to share your views. HMRC have also advised that maintenance will be taking place to the MTD VAT service from 4 pm on Saturday 17 August to 4 pm on Monday 19 August. During this period, the following services will not be available: Sign up for MTD Sign clients up for MTD Submit returns View previous submissions and payment details Set up new or cancel and amend existing direct debits Review and update any business or client details The payments service will not be available during the downtime but will be open on Monday 20 August.

Readers are reminded that the first quarterly filing deadline under Making Tax Digital is tomorrow 7 August 2019. The deadline to sign up and file under MTD for the quarter ending 30 June 2019 has now passed. Most VAT-registered businesses with a taxable turnover above £85,000 now need to submit their VAT returns using Making Tax Digital compatible software. HMRC can help you get ready with this live webinar and short videos.

HMRC’s live webinar explains the changes and which businesses are affected by MTD. Guidance includes how to sign up, digital record keeping, software and submitting VAT returns directly from your digital records. You can ask questions using the on-screen text box. Choose your date and time. HMRC’s YouTube channel also has useful videos on ‘How to sign up for Making Tax Digital – VAT’ and ‘Digital record keeping for VAT’

HMRC have advised that it is taking longer than usual to send confirmation emails to customers signing up for Making Tax Digital (MTD) – but no action is needed. HMRC are advising that those affected should not try to sign up again or attempt to submit a return until the confirmation email has been received, which should be within a few days.   Read the note from HMRC. “We are aware that we are taking longer than usual to send confirmation e-mails to customers signing up to Making Tax Digital. We are contacting those affected to advise them that there is a short delay in finalising their sign up and that they should expect to receive their confirmation in the next few days if they haven’t already.  In the meantime there is no need for them to take any action and they should not try to sign up again or attempt to submit a return until the confirmation email has been received.”  END OF UPDATE By 7 August, UK businesses required to use MTD for VAT from 1 April 2019 will be due to submit their first quarterly VAT return under MTD for the quarter ended 30 June 2019.

In just over two weeks, UK businesses required to use Making Tax Digital (“MTD”) for VAT from 1 April 2019 will be due to submit their first quarterly VAT return under MTD for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. The deadline for this is 7 August 2019. There are also now just four days left to make sure you sign up in time for MTD for VAT. HMRC have also published a blog post setting out what needs to be done before 7 August. It is important that businesses sign up for MTD at the right time. Readers are reminded that businesses which must submit VAT returns under the MTD for VAT rules must sign up to the service. This sign-up can be done by the business itself or its agent. If a business is not already signed up, it must wait at least 24 hours after submitting its final non-MTD VAT return before signing up. If payment of VAT is made by direct debit, businesses should allow five working days after the submission deadline for the final non-MTD for VAT return before signing up. Where payment is made by direct debit, the business must sign up at least 7 working days before the first MTD for VAT return is filed. This means that businesses due to sign up and submit their quarter ended 30 June 2019 return in accordance with MTD for VAT and who pay by direct debit should sign up by this coming Friday 26 July 2019 at the latest. However businesses are being advised not to wait until the last minute to sign up in order to avoid issues with registration and new systems which can happen the first time a business is faced with a change of this type. Businesses must also decide on a suitable software package to use. Businesses should also ensure that they receive email confirmation from HMRC that they have signed up before they file their first MTD for VAT return; HMRC are advising that this can take up to 72 hours to arrive. HMRC have also provided details of what some error messages relevant to MTD mean:- 403 (Client_Agent not authorised): the agent has missed a step in the agent journey or used the wrong credentials.  This will usually mean that HMRC’s systems do not recognise that: there is an authorised agent/client relationship the agent has set up an agent services account the business has fully signed up to MTD; or  incorrect credentials have been used when authorising the MTD software    403 (Forbidden): user is trying to submit a return for a period which is not yet closed.    404 (not found): user is trying to call back information for non MTD periods. This can be received when:  The request has been made before the business is fully migrated to MTD;  The request is for an obligation period that pre dates the business joining MTD;  Business is trying to submit a return to replace a paid Central Assessment on ETMP (the new VAT database). An error is returned because ETMP can’t process as no back end design in place; or  The request is asking to view liabilities or payments for a period that is not within MTD (e.g. the business may not yet have submitted a return so no liability has been generated).    500 (internal server error): user has not waited the 72 hours for their record to migrate to MTD (refers to the time that needs to elapse between signing up to MTD and filing the first return; HMRC advises also waiting until the email confirming successful sign up has been received).    8508 (InvalidTraderVRN): user has either tried to submit a return via the old XML route or it’s a genuinely invalid VRN

HMRC have contacted us about some recent changes to the Agent Services Account (ASA). The ASA allows agents to act on behalf of their clients for Making Tax Digital. The changes are as follows: You are now able to track the status of authorisation requests made in the last 30 days – this is where an agent has used the new digital authorisation route from ASA to authorise a new client. In response to user feedback, HMRC have renamed the ‘link your clients’ step to ‘copy your clients’. GOV.UK has been updated to reflect this – HMRC have also revised the ASA step by step guide to show this change. HMRC has delivered new functionality that shows agents the number of client authorisations that they have copied over from HMRC online services. HMRC will continue to iterate the service in response to feedback.