Making Tax Digital is a path to the 'three freedoms'

Much less publicised than Brexit, which begins two days earlier, Making Tax Digital will still affect more than a million businesses.

By Martin Horton, founder, Rivington Accounts

There might be workarounds - and possibly no penalties for the first 12 months - but you should see it as an opportunity to transform the information that you have in your business.

The best way to comply with MTD is to move your business bookkeeping onto online software such as Xero or QuickBooks; the benefits of this are:

Time saving – your bank transactions can be automatically imported – no more data entry!

Improved cashflow – invoices can be set up to produce, send and get paid automatically.

Better decision making – having up to date information means that you are well equipped to make the right decisions to improve your business.

These are the ‘three freedoms’ that every business owner can and should strive for: time, money and mind.

Many businesses will have old versions of Sage, which don’t cost anything, and there is a monthly licence fee of around £20 for online software but it more than pays for itself in the ways above.

Once you have your bookkeeping and VAT sorted online, it then gives you the opportunity to get some excellent data and reports on your business. We specialise in this area, and can help with analysis and forecasting. Treat Making Tax Digital as an opportunity to bring your business into the 21st century! You will not regret it. We are forward-thinking and you can be too!