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Do spreadsheets have a future in light of MTD?

06 August 2019 / David McCaigue
Issue: 4707 / Categories: Comment & Analysis
 The future for spreadsheets

Key points

  • Do businesses erroneously believe that they must switch to professional software?
  • Bridging software can link information from a spreadsheet to HMRC’s system.
  • The volume and complexity of data can influence the choice of software.
  • For small businesses a spreadsheet can be more efficient than dedicated software.
  • Spreadsheets can also be adapted to particular business or tax scenarios.
  • Information and formulae may be incorrect when entered on a spreadsheet resulting in errors.

The wait is over Making Tax Digital (MTD) has landed and HMRC is ‘slowly’ fixing many issues that have caused tax advisers and business owners sleepless nights over the past few months – an exaggeration perhaps but that’s the picture. We are now at a point where many businesses have signed up to MTD and are filing their VAT returns happily in the new way. However thousands more are still unclear on what digital software exists how...

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