Seven in ten businesses find VAT complex and confusing

Most UK VAT registered businesses (71%) consider that business taxes including VAT returns are too complex and confusing according to new research from tax compliance technology company Avalara.

Some 24% of businesses surveyed have been audited for filing their VAT return inaccurately or late and 20% have accidentally overpaid on their VAT return. In an attempt to mitigate against this nearly half are spending between ten and 40 hours each month on ensuring their business is VAT tax compliant including checking transactions doing VAT returns and researching different tax laws.

Despite this confusion nearly a third of respondents are hesitant to invest in technology to help streamline their tax function to help with the calculation and reporting of VAT. Only 46% have done so to support the filing of VAT returns and just 43% lean on technology to aid with...