With just one week to go until Making Tax Digital for VAT is introduced for more than a million businesses, HMRC says just 70,000 have signed up for the new service, which is mandatory from 1 April

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has published a leaflet for SMEs, outlining changes that may affect the business when the UK leaves the EU, with advice on actions to take and sources of support

HMRC has warned that the registration process for Making Tax Digital for VAT, due to come into effect from 1 April, will take seven days to complete, and will not be a real time service

A taxpayer seeking to reclaim around £2,300 under the DIY house-builders scheme for fitting electric blinds to an eco-building has had his claim denied at a First Tier Tribunal (FTT), on the grounds that these were not items which are ordinarily incorporated into buildings of this kind

Ongoing Brexit negotiations continue to generate uncertainty, but what is clear is that UK businesses are heading towards a perfect VAT storm when Making Tax Digital and Brexit VAT changes collide, warns Ian Carpenter, partner and head of indirect tax at RSM

In our regular VAT Q&A series, Croner Taxwise senior VAT consultant Hilary Budd considers whether online retailers using online marketplaces, eg, Amazon and eBay, to sell their goods must register for VAT in Germany if they want to continue selling to German customers  

The introduction of Making Tax Digital for VAT will transform the way VAT is reported with a requirement to use digital records, but there is some respite as the first filing date is no earlier than 1 July and there is a soft-landing penalty regime in year one. Emma Chesson, head of online at Kreston Reeves, explains how to get started

HMRC has issued updated guidance outlining the situations in which businesses and individuals can receive exemption from Making Tax Digital, although Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) is warning that VAT registered individuals and businesses have little time to apply for an exemption

With weeks until Brexit, HMRC has finally issued guidance for importers and exporters on how a postponed VAT accounting system would work in the event of no deal scendario to prevent businesses having to immediately pay UK VAT on imports from the EU

Sarah Kay, tax writer at Croner-i, considers an Upper Tribunal case where care services where taxable in England but exempt in Scotland and Northern Ireland due to different VAT rules and a variance in statutory regulation

In this week’s Q&A Vivienne Scott, senior VAT consultant at Croner Taxwise, raises awareness of some beneficial rules of the cash accounting scheme

HMRC’s decision to allow companies a soft landing without penalties for Making Tax Digital for VAT is welcome but there is still much confusion about the software requirements for companies, says Yvette Nunn CTA, owner partner at Berkeley Associates