Access Accounting prepares for Reverse Charge
Software vendor claims it will have an application to address the tax law change available in weeks
Access Accounting has become one of the first software vendors to embrace tax collection changes in the UK and said it will be releasing a Reverse Charge software application within weeks.
The vendor claimed the software will be available in time for the Reverse Charge implementation deadline on 1 December, set by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in its fight against VAT fraud.
Kevin Misselbrook, customer services director at Access Accounting, told CRN that it has a duty to help end-users comply with the growing burden of regulatory compliance.
“VARs will be able to service end-user needs in a responsive fashion and show them that they can also service their needs for Reverse Charge,” he said. “This marks a significant opportunity for our channel partners to address the Reverse Charge issue in the market.”
HMRC originally hoped to implement the Reverse Charge by October. However, last month the government body told CRN that, owing to approval delays from the European Commission (EC), December would now be the earliest month by which it could implement the change, subject to approval by the EC (CRN, 25 September).
Misselbrook added that the new software will differ from established accounting software packages in several ways. For example, firms can use different wording on invoices relating to Reverse Charge and use ‘intelligent design’ functions based around the HMRC strategy.
Anthony Elliott Square, chairman of the Federation of Technological Industries, told CRN that the software will be useful.
“If Reverse Charge does come in then it will introduce a different way of accounting in the applicable categories, such as computer components,” he said.
“Businesses will definitely need software for Reverse Charge, but established users of accounting packages will not want to change their software and will expect the vendor to provide a patch instead.”
Last month the value of carousel fraud in the UK dropped by £500m to £1.2bn between July and August, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics.
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