Despite the HMRC announcement that Making Tax Digital (MTD) has been pushed back to April 2024, business owners should still prioritise moving their financial records online or face being left behind, Chartered Accountant Oumesh Sauba warns.

The delay, which has been implemented to allow business owners an extra year to prepare, affects over 4 million businesses, self-employed workers and landlords with incomes of over £10,000 a year. They now have until April 2024 to move all of their accounting records online, at which point they will need to start filing quarterly updates to HMRC instead of a single annual update.

Oumesh Sauba, director of accounting firm Sauba and Daughters Co and founder and CEO of MyT, an innovative AI-driven accounting app and software designed to support freelancers and micro businesses, urges business owners to use this delay to get ahead, rather than delaying their digitisation plans further.

“Digitising the tax system through Making Tax Digital is the biggest change to business taxation for decades”

He argues that businesses must take advantage of the time they’ve been given to prepare their bookkeeping information in a format that’s ready to be uploaded online. For some, this will be a complete overhaul of their systems so the sooner this process starts, the better.

“Making Tax Digital is ultimately a good thing as it will reduce errors and streamline the taxation process. However, it will take some adjustment and this is where accounting software can help. If businesses choose software with innovative AI functionality like MyT, they will be able to process paperwork easily and quickly, saving both time and resources. Giving yourself adequate time to identify any issues, gaps in information and adjust to new systems is the best thing you can do for your business."