Making Tax Digital (MTD) may have slowed down but it has not gone away and we need to be making preparations for its introduction from April 2019. The first stage is MTD for VAT which will apply to the first VAT return starting on or after 1 April 2019. From that date you will need to maintain your financial records on software that can create and file your VAT return. You will no longer be able to fill in the form on HMRC web site. The whole process must be carried out electronically without any manual re-keying and communication must be two way (capable of receiving data from HMRC as well as submitting it).
If you don't already have accounting software now is the time to start looking. There are lots to choose from but make sure that they will be MTD compliant by next year. Whilst many people use accounting software not many use it for filing VAT online, so if that's you, consider using your software's functionality to the full. If you are using spreadsheets you will need an API to convert your data into a VAT return and file it online. This doesn't exist yet and it may be that now is a good time to switch to a more traditional accounting software.
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