Concern over online VAT returns

NFU Cymru has expressed its concern over mandatory online VAT returns in its submission to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) consultation on the next steps for moving VAT online.

Coming a year after businesses with a turnover of over ’100,000 were first required to submit their returns online, the second phase of the move to online filing will mean that VAT registered businesses with a turnover of less than ’100,000 will also be obliged to submit their VAT returns online from next spring.

It is NFU Cymru’s view that many Welsh farmers and other rural businesses will be unable to comply with mandatory online filing or will be faced with unreasonable difficulties or costs in order to comply with this new requirement, often for reasons beyond their control.

NFU Cymru is therefore strongly opposed to the introduction of mandatory online filing for all VAT registered businesses from April 2012 and the Union believes that mandatory filing should be deferred for any businesses without reliable access to broadband speeds of at least 2mbps.

Ed Bailey, NFU Cymru President said, ’Mandatory online filing may well mean that many small rural businesses will end up having to pay third parties to submit returns on their behalf, thus incurring additional professional costs.

’With businesses in rural areas already facing proportionately higher costs for transport and accessing services than their urban counterparts, these additional costs will be hard for them to absorb. I would urge government at all levels to be mindful of the particular difficulties that many rural dwellers face in terms of access to the internet before compelling people to go down the online route.’