Practitioners need to prepare for the expected migration of HMRC’s VAT registered traders from the VAT mainframe (VTM) to the MTD compliant Enterprise Tax Management Platform (ETMP) from March 2021.

The move means that all VAT return management will be on the same platform.

However, HMRC are withdrawing the facility for VAT returns to be submitted via the XML channel once the move is made.

Following migration to ETMP, agents will no longer be able to file non-MTD for VAT clients from their online service account. Instead, they will need to file returns through their Agent Service Account. This means that from March 2021, agents will need to file their clients VAT returns who are not yet signed up to MTD for VAT in one of two ways, depending on whether they have been migrated to ETMP or not. 

HMRC have confirmed that:

HMRC have therefore taken the decision to discontinue XML submission for VAT from April 2021. Customers who are not currently mandated to MTD VAT and do not wish to sign up to yet can submit their VAT returns through their Business Tax Account until they are mandated from April 2022.

Source: New feed