HMRC: making tax taxing for small businesses

The government is belatedly raising awareness of its new digital tax drive for small businesses.

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VAT returns are a headache for small businesses

The arrival of an innocuous-looking letter from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) this month will have been an unexpected headache for thousands of small businesses. The HMRC missive was a reminder of the launch of the first part of "Making Tax Digital" (MTD) on 1 April 2019: from that date, every business registered for VAT any firm with an annual turnover of more than £85,000 will be required to file its VAT returns using specialist accounting software.

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David Prosser
Business Columnist

David Prosser is a regular MoneyWeek columnist, writing on small business and entrepreneurship, as well as pensions and other forms of tax-efficient savings and investments. David has been a financial journalist for almost 30 years, specialising initially in personal finance, and then in broader business coverage. He has worked for national newspaper groups including The Financial Times, The Guardian and Observer, Express Newspapers and, most recently, The Independent, where he served for more than three years as business editor.