New regulations that require charities across the UK to submit their taxes through Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HRMC)-compliant software are set to go into effect 1st Oct. This new mandate can create challenges for organisations that will need to understand all the complexities and the best ways to digitize taxes.
Oracle NetSuite recently teamed up for an informative webinar with Charity Digital, a charity that provides resources to organizations to help them with their operations. Grant Thornton’s Alex Baulf, International Indirect Tax DirectorKamlesh Rajyagaru (opens in new tab), global tax director at Oracle NetSuite; Stefan Perez (opens in new tab), Social Impact account Executive; and Chris Hall (opens in new tab), marketing manager at Charity Digital were all speakers on the webinar.
The Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a key part of the government’s plans to make it easier for individuals and businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs. As part of the initiative, businesses, including charities will need to submit an electronic or digital format record keeping to the HRMC. It can be an electronic or digital transfer of data between software programs.
Currently there are over 250 approved compatible software products listed on the HMRC website. Yet, webinar participants warned that organisations should keep in mind that some listed only do VAT submissions and not all of accounting. Additionally, charities should consider their process and prepare for the changes ahead of time, they warned. That includes creating a blueprint of existing systems first, accessing the MTD requirements, analyzing the data, implementing the software and finally, testing systems.
Important Dates to remember to ensure MTD compliance:
- 1st April 2019 / 1st Oct. 2019 (if deferred) - Most domestic businesses were mandated to keep records digitally (for VAT purposes only) and submit monthly/quarterly submissions of VAT100 to HMRC via MTD compatible software.
- April 2019 / October 2019 (if deferred) – March 2020 / September 2020 (if deferred) – HMRC will not enforce the requirement to have digital links between software programs (i.e. ‘soft landing period’) to make the transition easier. After that, all transfers of data between digital records must be made digitally.
- April 2020 - MTD will incorporate other taxes such as corporation tax and other transactional reporting beyond that.
Watch the full webinar:
NetSuite is designed to help global organizations meet their complex tax compliance and reporting requirements and is compliant with the MTD initiative. It supports more than 100 countries, delivering automatic feature updates in line with changes to local tax requirements, meaning that customers are seamlessly compliant.
To learn more about Oracle NetSuite Social Impact for your organisation click here (opens in new tab).
Learn more about the UK’s digital tax initiative for charities in a blog from NetSuite’s Global Tax Director, Kamlesh R, regarding the MTD announcement last spring.
For more information check out Charity Digital’s charity tax (opens in new tab) resources.