MTD for VAT presents not just an opportunity to digitalise but to streamline the tax process to create efficiency and reduce risk. Gathering and calculating returns is highly labour intensive. On average, up to 75% of the compliance workload is dedicated to data input, with the talents of highly skilled tax professionals wasted on the configuration and population of spreadsheets and manual calculations. In addition to this, nearly 90% of spreadsheets are thought to contain errors which can lead to miscalculations, unwanted investigations and the prospect of financial or reputational loss. Automation software can resolve these issues by minimising the amount of time dedicated to compliance/maximising the time available for demanding strategic tax tasks.
What is AlphaVAT?
AlphaVAT is a sophisticated compliance engine which delivers a fully automated end-to-end digital process for tax compliance. AlphaVAT automates complex calculations including group consolidations and partial exemptions, supports businesses with large transaction volumes and complex data collection environments, and provides MTD compliant filing with visibility of past and present obligations, payments and liabilities. AlphaVAT also features built-in tax logic which is constantly updated, ensuring it keeps pace with regulatory change.
Who is it for?
AlphaVAT can be used by anyone looking to achieve end-to-end MTD for VAT compliance but it particularly lends itself to businesses and advisors who want to:
- Reduce their risk of error by reducing their reliance on spreadsheet-based processes
- Increase efficiency where their resources are already strained due to the need for manual collection and cleansing of data
- Automate complex tax calculations that are too complicated to just hit a system button and file
- More effectively manage disparate data sources spread out across different groups or third party organisations
What does it do?
AlphaVAT is a robust VAT return calculation, submission and management solution that combats the problems of inefficiency and error by significantly reducing spreadsheet dependency. AlphaVAT provides the ability to:
- Map and extract data – Automatic data checks ensure content and formats are correct and potential errors are identified within source data at a transaction level
- Digitally link data – AlphaLink technology joins VAT source records to the AlphaVAT compliance engine to ensure HMRC compliance
- Filter data – Large volumes of data can be uploaded making the solution ideal for those seeking a solution capable of handling data from multiple systems or third parties and the solution can segregate, spot check and query data making preparation and review simpler to perform
- Assign role-based access – Individual users can be assigned access (ie superuser, sys admin etc) or restricted access (read only, edit, edit and submit, submit only) to prevent knowledge silos and protect data integrity as well as making it easier to carry out digital audits
- Manage entities – Entities can be added and assigned access rights so that the solution can be customised to the structure of the business
- Automate calculations – Group consolidations and partial exemptions such as special method and transactions can be created and then automated, removing the need for formulas to be manually created in spreadsheets, reducing the risk of error
- Perform digital audits – Data can be traced back to source, making it easier to digitally audit returns and the dedicated access rights feature can help establish who made changes and when
- Detect errors – Incorrect reporting behaviour can be blocked, preventing errors, and error messages flag corrective actions for the attention of the tax professional
- Perform manual adjustments – Corrections can still be carried out manually but with the added benefit of flags and alerts which can bring issues to the user’s attention
How will AlphaVAT cope with future change?
AlphaVAT incorporates inbuilt tax logic to ensure it keeps pace with regulatory change. All the current parameters, alerts and guidance, are updated on a regular basis to ensure you remain compliant today and into the future. This ensures the solution can easily scale to meet future regulatory changes.
Should reporting increase under MTD for VAT to include the submission of digital source data, AlphaVAT is ideally set-up to provide HMRC with access due to its ability to track data to source and identify changes made. The processes used for VAT are also likely to bear comparison to those used for corporation tax and, as AlphaVAT sits within our MTD Compliance Suite of products, the business is provided with an MTD-compliant pathway to Corporation Tax and beyond.
How can I find out if AlphaVAT is right for me?
AlphaVAT is a universal solution that can be adapted to the size and structure of any business. To find out how our compliance engine can make your business more accurate and efficient, see our AlphaVAT datasheet, sign up for one of our AlphaVAT webinars here or contact us on +44(0) 1784 777 700 or via enquiries@taxsystems.com.
