For UK users: Will gnucash get ready for Making Tax Digital ?

[Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd)]

On 25 July 2017 at 05:39, John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> wrote:

>
>
> > On Jul 24, 2017, at 4:01 PM, Mike.Minh at gmx.net wrote:
> >
> >   In about a year's time the UK taxman (HMRC) will only allow approved
> >   accounting software to transmit the transctions required by law to
> >   HMRC.
> >   The project is known as Making Tax Digital or  MTD
> >   No exact details or requirements to softwaremakers have been published,
> >   but will gnucash commit to MTD?
> >   If not, gnucash cannot be used anymore by any UK users.
> >
> >   Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-tax-
> digital/overview-of-making-tax-digital
>
> It seems unlikely the we’ll have either the resources (as in developer
> time) or information from HMRC to implement this. If HMRC actually requires
> that account software be submitted to them for evaluation and approval  it
> also seems unlikely that they’d approve any FOSS program.
>
> That aside the page you cite says April 2019 and only for businesses above
> the VAT threshold. It looks like HMRC intend that they’ll collect
> information on individual taxpayers by other means so that individuals will
> have no reporting requirements at all. Since GnuCash is aimed primarily at
> individuals and small businesses it seems that most of our UK users will
> still be able to use GnuCash.
>
> Regards,
> John Ralls
>
> Many small businesses, even as small as one person, will be above the VAT
threshold, which is a turnover of £85,000/year (around USD $110,000/year).

Even businesses below that threshold, may well chose to register for VAT.
If a UK company sells a lot of goods outside the European Union, then it
makes sense, as the business can recover the cost of the VAT on items
purchased, but does not need to charge VAT on non-EU sales. If one sells
mainly to individuals in the EU, it would probably not make sense to
register for VAT unless one has to.

That said, GnuCash can't submit the RTI submissions, but my accountant does
that for me, so the fact GnuCash can't do everything a UK business needs,
does not mean that it will not be able to use by UK businesses. HOWEVER,
clearly being able to do more would make it more useful.

If there's no desire/developer time to support this, then its not worth
giving it any more consideration. But IF there was a willingness to develop
it, then I think it would be unfounded to judge that FOSS program would not
be eligible. There are government initiatives here to encourage the use of
open source software in government

https://governmenttechnology.blog.gov.uk/2016/12/15/next-steps-for-open-source-in-government/

Certainly for annual accounts submission, the UK government lists the
protocol to send the information. Some information here for example

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-gateway-submission-protocol-31

As far as I could work out before, if the software used their protocol, it
would work.

Dave