Making Tax Digital for VAT - CCH Practice Management: Quick Start Guide
Introduction
Making Tax Digital for VAT introduces the requirement for VAT registered businesses with taxable turnover above the VAT registration threshold to keep records in digital form and file their VAT returns via compatible software.
Our priority is to support advisors and their clients, by delivering a VAT filing solution that allows you to maintain your current VAT processes as closely as possible. Advisors have significant legacy calculations and formulas within spreadsheets today that makes the recurring task of completing a VAT return more efficient.
This Quick Start Gguide documents the process of exporting the VAT data from CCH Practice Management, creating digital links for sales, purchases and the VAT return, and then filing the return through Making Tax Digital for VAT within CCH OneClick.
Prerequisites
Making Tax Digital for VAT - is an integral part of CCH OneClick. This guide assumes that the practice has already activated CCH OneClick, as well as the employees of that practice and their clients. Along with the relevant permissions for those employees to be able to upload and send a return to HMRC. For more information refer to the Practice Activation and Client setup guide
CCH OneClick must be authorised with HMRC to record the VAT Registration Number. There are two methods for advisors to file their own business returns, either through the advisors’ workspace or through the client workspace.
Filing through the advisor’s workspace - you will need a 64-8 in place and your business has been linked to your agent services account. You also need, your agent services account credentials to sign in to HMRC’s page, to grant authority for CCH OneClick with HMRC. These will be used to access all the API-based services that HMRC provides.
Filing through the client workspace - If, you would like to keep your own VAT return separate from your client's VAT returns, we recommend they are filed through the client workspace within CCH OneClick.
CCH OneClick must be authorised with HMRC to record the VAT Registration Number, you can either use your agent services account credentials or your existing government gateway credentials.
For further details on how to authorise the practice within CCH OneClick, (advisors workspace), please refer to: Making Tax Digital for VAT Quick Start Guide
For further details on how to authorise the client workspace, please refer to: Authorise CCH OneClick with HMRC (link to be added)
Please note: once you have signed up to MTD for VAT, HMRC may take up to 72 hours to send a confirmation email. DO NOT try to enter their VAT registration number in CCH OneClick as it will fail.
Businesses that currently pay VAT by Direct Debit cannot sign up for MTD for VAT in the 7 working days leading up to, or the 5 working days after their VAT Return is due. For example, VAT return quarter end 30th April 2019 means you have to sign up by the 18th March or wait until 9th April 2019 to sign up.
Exporting the Sales VAT Data from CCH Practice Management
Before you run the report ensure that you have closed off the previous tax periods in Practice Management, otherwise the figures for the previous tax quarter(s) will also be included in the report that you run. This is because, all figures since the last tax period closure will be included and therefore will accumulate into future reports.
For full guidance on how to ‘close an accounting period as a tax period and run the reports to obtain your VAT figures’, please refer to knowledge base article 10411.
Note: please ensure that you run the reports before closing the current tax period as the reports cannot be re-run once the period has been closed.
Once a tax period has been closed it cannot be re-opened.
1. From Smart Reports, select period end.
2. Select 'Accruals Basis' or 'Cash basis'.
3. To run the report double click or click on 'Run' in the tool bar.
4. Within Filter, type in the period i.e. December.
Note: there are various options to export the data into Excel, however, for the purpose of VAT reporting the method shown below is best practice.
5. Click on 'OK'.
6. Click on 'Export to Excel'.
7. Save the file.
Creating Digital Links
1. Open the sales VAT data spreadsheet which was exported from CCH Practice Management.
2. Open the spreadsheet for the exported VAT return data for the purchases. (This could be from CCH Practice Management or other bookkeeping solutions).
3. Create a new Workbook within Excel for example - VAT Return.
4. In row 15 column C, type = then browse to the Total VAT figure from Sales_VAT spreadsheet and press enter.
5. In row 18 column C, type = then browse to the Total VAT figure from Purchases_VAT spreadsheet and press enter.
6. Continue the process until all relevant values have been digitally linked.
Please note: the spreadsheets can have any naming convention, the above is for demonstration purposes only. Please make sure all relevant values and have been digitally linked.
Tagging the MS Excel Spreadsheet
Before the spreadsheet can be uploaded into Making Tax Digital within CCH OneClick, tags need to be applied to boxes 1 to 9.
7. The Excel Name function is used to tag the VAT information to allow it to be imported. This will allow the software to read the data.
8. To apply the tags to the above example, Click on Cell C15
9. Select Formulas > Name Manager > New
10. Name = VATB1
11. Name = VATB2
12. Repeat the process for the other 7 x VAT box cells
Authorise CCH OneClick with HMRC
Advisors Workspace
CCH OneClick must be authorised with HMRC to record the VAT Registration Number. You can use this method to file your own business return using the advisor’s workspace if you have a 64-8 in place and your business has been linked to your new ASA account. If, however, you would like to keep this separate from your Client VAT returns then we recommend you file the return through the client workspace in CCH OneClick.
For further details on how to authorise the practice within CCH OneClick, refer the Making Tax Digital for VAT quick start guide.
Client Workspace
CCH OneClick must be authorised with HMRC to record the VAT Registration Number. You can either use your agent services account credentials or your existing government gateway credentials.
- Click on the Making Tax Digital for VAT tile
- Click on 'Authorise'
3. The page is redirected to the HMRC website
4. Click on 'Continue'
5. Enter your HMRC User ID and password, either your new ASA credentials or your government gateway credentials, both are excepted.
6. Click on 'Sign In'
7. Click on 'Grant authority'
Note: your credentials used to sign into HMRC’s page, to grant authority for CCH OneClick with HMRC must be your agent services account credentials or your government gateway ID that HMRC require all businesses to create. These will be used to access all the API-based services that HMRC provide.
The authorisation with HMRC is expected to last for an 18-month period, so should not need to be repeated frequently.
Confirmation email
8. Once you have signed up to MTD for VAT, HMRC may take up to 72 hours to send a confirmation email.
DO NOT try to enter your VAT registration number until you have received this email otherwise it will fail
9. Once you have received the confirmation email from HMRC, it’s now time to enter your VAT number by clicking on 'Add VAT number'
10. Add your VAT number
11. Validation is then applied to check that:
- Your business has subscribed to Making Tax Digital for VAT. If not, the error below is shown.
6. If the VAT Number does not contain the correct amount of digits a validation message will be displayed
12. Click on 'Add'
13. If you need to edit the VAT number click on 'Edit'
14. Click on 'Save'
Digital VAT Account
The Digital VAT account displays information on liabilities and payments held by HMRC. In order for you to view your clients’ liabilities and when their payments are due for those clients that file their own VAT Returns, your clients need to have a digital account and they also need to be registered for Making TAX Digital for VAT.
Please note: until a VAT submission is made, or a payment made for a liability under MTD for VAT, the payments and liabilities tabs will not return any data. This is because only data relating to MTD for VAT can ever be shown. Meaning liabilities and payments prior to MTD for VAT cannot be shown.
- Click on the Digital VAT Account tab to display information on liabilities and payments returned held by HMRC
Note: to view data that is more than one year old, change the date filter.
2. Click on the 'Payments' tab to display information on Payments returned held by HMRC
Note: The first time you submit a VAT return, they may be a slight delay in the Digital VAT Account being updated, please check again after one hour.
If you no longer require to submit VAT returns on behalf of your clients', please contact CCH Software support or email UK-MTDVAT@wolterskluwer.com providing the following information.
- Your practice name
- Your practice CCH OneClick URL
- Your client's name along with their CCH Client code
This will ensure that you will no longer be billed for filing VAT returns on behalf of your clients’.
Dashboards
The Making Tax Digital homepage dashboard displays data for Making Tax Digital for VAT such as how many clients with a VAT registration number have been entered in Making Tax Digital for VAT, VAT Returns that are due to be filled within the next 30 days, the number of returns filed that were due within the last 30 days and VAT Returns that are overdue.
- To view which clients have a VAT registration number click on Registered for VAT
- To view clients where VAT Returns are due to be filed within the next 30 days click on Due to be filed within the next 30 days
- To view which VAT Returns that have been filed by the advisor or their client, click on filed in the past 30 days
Filters can be applied to:
- Filter by user - Allows users to filter their client list to only see their own or another employee's clients.
- Filing Responsibility - Allows users to filter by whom is responsible for filing the VAT return, so either the Advisor, Client Workspace or 3rd party applications.
- Filter by period - Allows users to specify a date range they wish to interrogate.
4. To view which clients are overdue, click on 'Overdue'