VAEC0200 - Making Tax Digital for Business (MTD) - how to deal with MTD customers

From 1 April 2019, most VAT customers will be mandated to manage their VAT affairs digitally using third party software.

Some making tax digital (MTD) customers and most non-MTD customers will continue to have their records maintained on the VAT Mainframe. However, all customer VAT records will eventually migrate on to the Enterprise Tax Management Platform (ETMP).

The procedural guidance in this manual only covers the VAT Mainframe/VISION process. For guidance on the MTD/ETMP process, see the Compliance Support: Making Tax Digital Toolkit.

All VAT compliance checks should start with a check on VISION to establish if the customer’s VAT records are managed on the VAT mainframe or have been migrated to ETMP.

VISION will have one of three markers showing the migration status

  • ETMP migrated – fully migrated customer.
  • HYBRID - partially migrated customer.
  • VMF - customer remains on VISION/VAT Mainframe.

If your customer’s record has been fully migrated to ETMP then you will need to check both VISION and ETMP for a complete view of the customer’s VAT returns. The RAT report can do this for you.

Help cards for interrogating ETMP can be found in the Compliance Support: Making Tax Digital Toolkit. You can also contact a primary user in your location if you need help.

If the customer’s record has been partially migrated then all VAT return and ledger information will still be available on VISION.