MTD for a VAT-registered unincorporated business

Gem7321

I attended a webinar recently on MTD and we discussed the process of submitting quarterly returns. It then transpired that if reporting under the accruals basis a final 'tidy up' submission would be needed. Then it was mentioned that some form of 'tax return' would be needed to report any dividends, interest, HICB etc.

By my count that's 6 submissions.

If reporting under the accruals basis then the business is very likely to be VAT registered and making quarterly VAT submissions. That's 10 submissions.

If we now assume that the VAT quarters are not coterminous with the accounting period, the business could be making submissions 10 months out of the year. Is this really how the simplified tax system is supposed to work? Am I missing something?

Gem7321

Just finished a webinar and one of their suggestions is that larger businesses reporting under the accruals basis can elect to make their accounting adjustments for stock etc. just once a year at year-end rather than quarterly.

Fancy that? We'll overhaul the tax system so that you know exactly how much tax to pay, but then you can actually finalise your accounts using the same method that has been in place for years and change your tax bill completely with the last submission.