HMRC will be writing to a number of businesses from June onwards in respect of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT. This letter will be sent to businesses who currently pay their VAT by DD, but for whom HMRC do not hold an email address for.
To allow HMRC to comply with UK banking regulations they require an email address in order to take payments by DD.
The letters will inform the business that their VAT DD will be cancelled between July and November, and advising them that, if they want to continue to pay by DD, they will need to set up a new instruction via their Business Tax Account (BTA).
We would advise any businesses that receive such a letter to attend to this as soon as possible to ensure any future VAT payments can be collected as normal. This will involve updating your contact details and email address in your BTA. For those businesses who do not have a BTA you will be required to set one up ( https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sign-in-to-your-hmrc-business-tax-account ). Part of the set up process may involve waiting on an activation code from HMRC in the post which could take up to 10 days to arrive so we would encourage quick attention to any such letters you may receive.
Where businesses have joined the VAT deferral new payment scheme, the DD via which pays the deferred VAT is separate and will continue unaffected by this change.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with your usual Drummond Laurie contact for any questions or assistance.
