Skip to main content 6 FreeAgent features that make VAT filing easier
The advent of Making Tax Digital is changing the landscape of VAT filing and presents a number of opportunities and challenges for both you and your VAT-registered clients. While this initiative may seem daunting, our team has been working hard to deliver a number of updates and improvements to help make VAT filing through FreeAgent a breeze.
Read on to find out more about the most recent and exciting of these changes, some of which may be familiar to you and your clients, while others are hot off the press!
Final VAT returns for MTD
As of April 2019, many UK businesses are required to store digital records and submit updates to HMRC using MTD-compatible accounting software. Final VAT returns previously had to be filed through HMRC’s website, but we now support the filing of final VAT returns straight from our software, allowing you and your clients to do so in double-quick time and with minimal hassle.
Check out our MTD Express pack to learn more about what you need to do to get your clients prepared for MTD and how FreeAgent can help.
A full report revamp
Our recent revamp of the reports feature allows you and your clients to see exactly which boxes on the VAT return each transaction has affected. This is especially useful when you need to easily explain to your clients where the figures are coming from without having to use a calculator. It can be filtered to make searching easier and can be copied and pasted into spreadsheets and other programmes if needed.
VAT deferrals on income
We now support VAT deferrals on invoices and income transactions, allowing you and your clients to make corrections in locked periods. This functionality increases flexibility by letting you edit invoices, bills, expenses and bank transactions in locked VAT periods. If it impacts VAT in any way, we'll automatically make the adjustments on the next open VAT return so you don't need to worry about it not being accounted for, or have to post journals manually.
Manual adjustments to boxes 6 and 7
FreeAgent automatically calculates the figures in boxes 6 and 7 on VAT returns, but there may be occasions when you’ll want to manually adjust these figures. Before the introduction of Making Tax Digital, there was the option to file a return through HMRC’s portal. As that’s no longer an option, this workaround lets you file through FreeAgent in these edge cases.
The flexibility to edit these boxes let’s you and your clients file returns that include pre-registration costs and when your clients start using FreeAgent mid-quarter.
Practice support improvements
We are excited to welcome a new dedicated team of experienced support accountants who prioritise practice support at all times. This new team, embedded in our wider Support team, are able to use their advanced knowledge of the accountants’ dashboard and how accountants work to offer you an enhanced service. You can get in touch with this team directly by emailing practicesupport@freeagent.com.
Knowledge Base articles
Our Knowledge Base provides a wide range of useful articles for both you and your clients. We recently made a variety of improvements to our ‘How to transfer an existing FreeAgent user to your dashboard’ article, including a brand new downloadable transfer template. Designed to save you time and effort. If you want to help get your clients prepared for VAT filing, our VAT articles are a great place for them to start.
These improvements should help to remove some of the stress associated with VAT filing, making it even easier for your practice and clients to file VAT returns through FreeAgent. Please contact your account manager if you’d like to know more about these changes.