Enabling MTD

Question

When will we be able to enable MTD on Sage? I was hoping to submit 2018 Q4 via MTD as a practice run before it becomes mandatory, but it seems you have to join a 'closed pilot' in order to do this.

Paul Morgan · Answer

Hi Rebecca, 
 Thanks for using Sage City. 
 If you've registered for the HMRC open pilot for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT, before you can submit your VAT Return under MTD you must switch on the MTD feature in Sage 50cloud Accounts. 
 Before you switch on the MTD feature, check that you've: 
 
 Successfully registered with HMRC for the MTD pilot. 
 Installed and activated Sage 50cloud Accounts v24.2 or above. 
 
 Once you sign up with HMRC for Making Tax Digital, before you submit your first MTD VAT Return you must activate the MTD options in your Sage 50cloud Accounts software. 
 When you open the Settings menu, click Company Preferences then click VAT, if you can't see a check box called Enable Making Tax Digital for VAT submissions, it can be due to the following: 
 
 You're not using our MTD compliant software, Sage 50cloud Accounts v24.2 or above 
 
 or 
 
 Your regional settings are not set to UK. 
 
 To resolve this: 
 
 Check that you're using Sage 50cloud Accounts v24.2 or above by following our quick guide. 
 Check that the regional settings are set to UK. 
 On the menu bar click Tools , click Activation then click Refresh Licence . 
 
 If this has answered your question please click More > Verify Answer. 
 Regards, 
 Paul 
 Sage UKI

Anita Harper · Answer

Hi Rebecca. Sage is already MTD ready (I've just submitted an MTD return via Sage v25) but it's really important that you don't try to enable it within Sage until you have been accepted on the pilot by HMRC. You won't be able to do that until HMRC invites you to - look out for a letter - as they are staggering the sign-ups from now until October.

Paul Morgan · Answer

Hi Jayne, 
 
 Thanks for using Sage City. 
 
 If you&rsquo;re not yet registered for HMRC&rsquo;s MTD pilot, you should still submit your VAT returns in the same way &ndash; even though you&rsquo;re now using Sage 50cloud Accounts. 
 
 When you&rsquo;re ready to submit your first VAT return under MTD, you can then select the Enable Making Tax Digital for VAT submissions check box in Settings > Company Preferences > VAT tab. 
 
 If this has answered your question please click More > Verify Answer. 
 
 Regards, 
 
 Paul 
 Sage UKI

Paul Morgan · Answer

MTD comes into effect form 1 April 2019 Jayne. You must submit your first MTD return for the first full VAT period starting on or after 1 April 2019. 
 
 If this has answered your question please click More > Verify Answer. 
 
 Regards, 
 
 Paul 
 Sage UKI

Paul Morgan · Answer

Yes that&rsquo;s right Jayne. Don&rsquo;t tick it before 1 April 2019 though. 
 
 If this has answered your question please click More > Verify Answer. 
 
 Regards, 
 
 Paul 
 Sage UKI

Anita Harper · Answer

Hi Jayne 
 I work with 3 VAT registered charities that will fall within MTD. One received a letter from HMRC and signed up, another received a letter saying they don't need to sign up until October and another didn't get a letter at all, tried to sign up and was declined as it's "too early". 
 Like you, I wanted to submit a 2018 return and have finally managed it, but it took much longer than expected, so don't attempt it if your filing deadline is next week..(Answering your other question above, if you haven't signed up, your VAT submission in v.25 will be just the same as v.24) 
 When you're ready, here's the link to sign up: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-software-to-submit-your-vat-returns#sign-up-for-the-pilot 
 It is possible to start the process just to see if you are eligible and then abandon before actually committing to sign up. 
 Once you have completed the online sign-up, you get an emailed confirmation of application from HMRC but you have to wait a few days for a letter in the post confirming acceptance. 
 Once accepted you MUST submit through MTD, so at that stage you'd need to change the settings on Sage, but otherwise the Sage end works just like it did before. 
 When you go to submit the return, though, it clearly takes you to a different portal and you have to sign in with your Government Gateway ID to give permission for Sage to access your VAT account. At that point it all went horribly wrong for me and I had to get an IT engineer to change the settings on my PC before I could get through. 
 As I said - it will take longer than you expect so give yourself at least a week. Good luck!

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