Micro and small business owners are being urged to move their finances online well ahead of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) introduction in April 2024. According to Chartered Management Accountant and small business tax expert, Oumesh Sauba, business owners should prioritise moving their financial records online or face being left behind.
Although the introduction of MTD has been pushed back to 2024, to allow business owners an extra year to prepare, there are over 5 million businesses, self-employed workers and landlords with incomes of over £10,000 a year who will be affected by the new rules. They now have until April 2024 to move all of their accounting records online, at which point they will need to start filing quarterly updates to HMRC instead of a single annual update.
Oumesh Sauba, director of accounting firm Sauba and Daughters Co and founder and CEO of MyT Limited, an innovative AI-driven accounting app and software designed to support freelancers and micro businesses, urges business owners not to underestimate the work involved with digitising their finances.
“Digitising the tax system through Making Tax Digital is the biggest change to business taxation for decades” Says Oumesh.
He argues that businesses must take advantage of the time they’ve been given to prepare their bookkeeping information in a format that’s ready to be uploaded online. For some, this will be a complete overhaul of their systems so the sooner this process starts, the better.
“Making Tax Digital is ultimately a good thing as it will reduce errors and streamline the taxation process. However, it will take some adjustment and this is where accounting software can help. If businesses choose software with innovative AI functionality like MyT, they will be able to process paperwork easily and quickly, saving both time and resources. Giving yourself adequate time to identify any issues, gaps in information and adjust to new systems is the best thing you can do for your business.” He adds
