With just two weeks left, about three in four firms in the finance sector are yet to sign up
Credit: Anna Frodedesiak/Public domain
More than half of the 1.2 million firms that need to sign up for Making Tax Digital have now done so, the government has said. But, with just two weeks left to register, in excess of half a million companies are yet to do so – including three quarters of firms in the finance sector.
HM Revenue and Customs has issued a reminder that, from 7 August, all businesses with an annual turnover above the £85,000 threshold must file VAT returns using the new digital platform. For those that pay via direct debit, this makes Friday 26 July – two weeks from today – the effective deadline.
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Some 600,000-plus firms have already registered for Making Tax Digital, according to HMRC, with a further 10,000 doing so each day. But this still leaves almost half of the total that need to do so.
In some industries, almost 75% of companies are yet to sign up – with the finance sector picked out as the worst offender.
With a sign-up rate of around 50%, agriculture and farming was namechecked by HMRC as a top-performing industry.
Theresa Middleton, the department’s director of Making Tax Digital, said: “Now is the time for businesses with an August quarterly filing deadline to sign up and join the hundreds of thousands already experiencing the benefits of MTD. During this first year we won’t be issuing filing or record-keeping penalties to businesses doing their best to comply.”
