Trojan Horse or the Bleedin-Obvious!

If you have not yet read the article by Richard on the MTD (Making Tax Digital) Trojan Horse then suggest you do.

It emphasises the changes that are coming globally, not just in the UK around tax digitalisation and the vast amounts of data, all electronically captured and interfaced, that the tax authorities are going after.

More worryingly though is that even with all of the evidence of where we need to be, so few companies are doing anything about it. The Middle East was a perfect example of this with most companies leaving it until the last minute to implement the VAT logic needed in their ERP systems even though it was clear what would be needed (the lack of finally published legislation was no reason not to move forward).

MTD is a perfect opportunity for UK companies to get some funding to put in full tax automation and reporting but most will quite literally do nothing and stick with the spreadsheets and just use a bridging excel spreadsheet. It's clear that things are going digital that the VAT return will be replaced with SAF-T style extracts. Why not get ready when you have time to do so?

So, when all the signs are out there and many countries already making changes, is it really a Trojan horse or is it bleedin-obvious in what you need to be planning for?