ICAEW research in July 2018 revealed that of the businesses required to submit their VAT returns using software or an app from April 2019, 42% were unaware of the change.
Although ICAEW and the other professional bodies have been making members aware of Making Tax Digital (MTD) and its impact on how businesses keep their accounting records and file their VAT returns, neither HMRC nor the government has done very much at all to make businesses themselves aware of what they need to do.
The publicity campaign is about to begin.
HMRC has advised us that it will shortly start issuing letters to 200,000 businesses that are currently eligible to join the MTD VAT pilot.
The first 20,000 such letters are expected to start arriving on Thursday 8 November, after which there will be a pause while HMRC monitors the impact of the letters before restarting the following week. We will keep you informed of progress.