United Kingdom: VAT - Making Tax Digital (0 · 5 · 20%)
Basic support for VAT and Making Tax Digital (MTD, HMRC's rule to file VAT online from digital records) is in place. We complete the UK setup together with early-access customers.
From early 2027Does Kinnow support VAT - Making Tax Digital in United Kingdom? Basic support for VAT and Making Tax Digital (MTD, HMRC's rule to file VAT online from digital records) is in place. We complete the UK setup together with early-access customers.
- Tax system
- VAT - Making Tax Digital (0 · 5 · 20%)
- E-invoicing
- MTD-compliant digital records (no clearance e-invoice)
- Tax ID
- VAT number
- Filings
- VAT return (quarterly, MTD)
- Payroll
- PAYE
- Privacy
- UK GDPR + Data Protection Act 2018
- Marketing consent
- UK GDPR lawful basis + PECR (soft opt-in limits, one-click unsubscribe)
- Dates
- DD/MM/YYYY
- Numbers
- 1,234,567.89
Terms your team will see
UK terms, in plain words
Your team will meet these words in Kinnow. Here is what each one means.
| Term | In plain words |
|---|---|
| VAT and HMRC | Value added tax, and His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the tax authority. Kinnow applies 20%, 5% and 0% rates, so check the current rates with your adviser. |
| Making Tax Digital (MTD) | HMRC's rule that VAT is kept in digital records and filed online through software HMRC recognises. |
| VAT return, nine boxes | The VAT return (form VAT100) has nine boxes: VAT due on sales, VAT due on goods bought from the EU, total VAT due, VAT you reclaim, the net to pay or reclaim, then the total value of sales, purchases, goods sent to the EU and goods received from the EU. |
| Stagger group | HMRC puts each quarterly VAT filer in group 1, 2 or 3. The group decides which months your VAT quarters end in. |
| Reverse charge | On certain cross-border sales, the buyer accounts for the VAT instead of the seller. |
| PAYE and National Insurance | Pay As You Earn is how an employer deducts income tax from pay. National Insurance is a second payroll contribution, paid by both employee and employer. |
| Auto-enrolment | The rule that employers put eligible staff into a workplace pension. The contribution is worked out on a slice of pay (qualifying earnings), not on all of it. |
| Student loan plans | Repayments are taken from pay once it passes a threshold. There are several plans, and a postgraduate loan is taken as well as, not instead of, an undergraduate plan. |
| RTI | Real Time Information, the reports an employer sends HMRC with every pay run. |
| Companies House and the confirmation statement (CS01) | Companies House is the company register. The confirmation statement is a yearly check that your officers, shareholders and registered office are still correct. |
| CT600 | The company's corporation tax return. |
| ICO fee | The yearly data protection fee paid to the Information Commissioner's Office. |
| CIS | The Construction Industry Scheme, where contractors deduct tax from payments to subcontractors. |
What Kinnow prepares for you
Each area below starts from early 2027. Each row says what Kinnow does and when it starts.
| Area | What Kinnow does | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Indirect tax (VAT) | Works out VAT per invoice line at 20%, 5% or 0%, with the reverse charge for sales to customers outside Britain. Checks the VAT number, including its check digits, which catch most mistyped numbers. The groundwork to build the nine-box VAT return as a file from your invoices is in place and is completed before launch; your team reviews and files it, and the box layout is checked against HMRC's specification first. Kinnow does not submit. | From early 2027 |
| E-invoicing | The UK has no government e-invoice network to join. Kinnow keeps the digital records Making Tax Digital asks for. | From early 2027 |
| Payroll statutory | Income tax by the PAYE method, National Insurance, workplace pension and student loans on a payslip, with a Scottish variant. The PAYE method is non-cumulative. See the next section. | From early 2027 |
| Data protection | Applies the consent, retention and erasure rules of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and the one-click unsubscribe rules for marketing. | From early 2027 |
| Registrations and calendar | Tracks Companies House dates, your corporation tax return, the ICO fee, the Construction Industry Scheme (if you work in construction) and your VAT dates. | From early 2027 |
Tell us about your next VAT quarter and we will show you how the return will be built. Send us last quarter's sales and purchases.
Payroll in the UK, in plain words
- PAYE is worked out on the non-cumulative basis. Real PAYE re-works tax on year-to-date pay each month. Kinnow works out each month as if pay continued all year. For someone on steady pay for the full year, the two agree. For a mid-year joiner, a bonus month or variable pay, they can differ, and every payslip carries a note saying so. Check those cases against your payroll provider.
- The tax year runs 6 April to 5 April. A payslip from April onward belongs to the new year. If no rates have been loaded for a year, Kinnow stops rather than quietly using last year's.
- Scottish taxpayers get Scottish income tax bands with the same National Insurance as the rest of the UK.
- Pension and student loans. The pension is worked on qualifying earnings only. A postgraduate loan is taken in addition to an undergraduate one.
- Statutory redundancy pay is worked out by age and years of service, with the legal caps on a week's pay and on years counted.
- The rate tables are still to be checked. Tax bands, National Insurance, pension and loan figures for 2026-27 are to be compared with HMRC's published rates. Ask your adviser to confirm them before your first payroll.
A year of filings
These are the dates Kinnow tracks for a UK company. For each, a task appears ahead of the date and alerts follow as it gets close. Rules change, so your adviser confirms the date that applies to your company.
| What | When | What Kinnow does |
|---|---|---|
| VAT return | Each quarter (or each month, if you file monthly), due one calendar month and seven days after the period ends | Shows your dates once you record your stagger group. It will not guess one, because a wrong group makes every return a month early or late. Groundwork to build the nine boxes is completed before launch. |
| Confirmation statement (CS01) | Every year, on the anniversary of the last one | Reminds you ahead of time. Missing it can lead to the company being struck off the register. |
| Annual accounts | Nine months after your accounting reference date for a private company | Reminds you ahead of time. Late penalties grow if the previous year was also late. |
| Corporation tax return (CT600) | Twelve months after the accounting period ends | Reminds you for the return. The tax itself is due at nine months and one day, three months earlier, so ask your adviser to plan that payment separately. |
| ICO data protection fee | Yearly, from the date of your last payment | Reminds you once a payment date is recorded. Nothing breaks when it lapses, which is why it is often forgotten. |
| Construction Industry Scheme return | Monthly, by the 19th, only if you work in construction | Reminds you each month. |
| RTI reports, P60, P11D, P45 | With each pay run, monthly, yearly or on leaving | Listed as due. Kinnow does not send them to HMRC. |
How a VAT return will be prepared
Nothing is filed, paid or posted without a person.
- Your accounts team records sales invoices and purchase bills. Kinnow puts VAT on each line at the right rate and applies the reverse charge where it fits.
- The VAT period ends. Sales and purchases are already summed by type: standard-rated, zero-rated, exempt, imports and reverse-charge.
- Your finance head asks for the return for that period. Once the return groundwork is completed before launch, Kinnow fills all nine boxes. If you trade goods with Northern Ireland you tell Kinnow so, and boxes 2, 8 and 9 are filled. If not, they stay at zero, and Kinnow warns you if import VAT appears that would belong elsewhere.
- Kinnow lists what looks wrong. The Filing Prep agent flags mismatches against the books for a person to clear. Like every agent, it is validated with each client before it works on their books.
- Your adviser checks the boxes the first time. The layout was written from the published VAT100 and has not been checked against HMRC's current specification. A wrong box still adds up.
- A person approves and downloads the file. Your finance head signs off the figures.
- An authorised person files it. Kinnow does not submit. Filing needs software that HMRC has recognised, which is an application HMRC runs. Use your recognised software or the HMRC online service.
Tell us about your own quarter and we will show you how each box will be built.
What your adviser still does
- Confirms your VAT scheme, stagger group and current rates.
- Checks the nine-box layout before your first return, and the payroll rate tables before your first payroll.
- Decides edge cases, such as Northern Ireland goods, postponed import VAT and which items are reduced or zero-rated. Kinnow has a starter list only.
- Files the VAT return, RTI reports, accounts, CT600 and confirmation statement through the usual channels.
- Plans the corporation tax payment, which falls due before the return.
Agents that help
Filing Prep
Builds the GSTR-1 file from your books and lists every document it left out, with the reason, for a person to clear before filing.
ReachConsent & Deliverability Gate
Stops any marketing message going out unless the person has given consent for that channel, with the time recorded. If consent is missing, nothing is sent and the reason is recorded.
Questions
Does Kinnow support VAT - Making Tax Digital in United Kingdom?
Basic support for VAT and Making Tax Digital (MTD, HMRC's rule to file VAT online from digital records) is in place. We complete the UK setup together with early-access customers.
Is Kinnow ready for United Kingdom today?
We are finishing this country setup together with early-access customers. Talk to us about joining.
How does Kinnow handle UK GDPR + Data Protection Act 2018?
Kinnow applies the consent, retention and erasure rules for you. When someone asks to be erased, their data goes from files, search and AI memory too, while the financial records the law makes you keep stay in place.
Will Kinnow submit my VAT return to HMRC?
No. The groundwork to build the nine-box return as a file is completed before launch. A person files it through software HMRC recognises or the HMRC online service. Your adviser should check the boxes the first time.
Can Kinnow run UK payroll?
It works out PAYE, National Insurance, pension and student loans on a payslip. Tax is on the non-cumulative basis, which differs from real PAYE for mid-year joiners and bonus months. It does not send RTI reports to HMRC.
What about Northern Ireland?
Great Britain and Northern Ireland are treated differently for goods. You tell Kinnow whether you trade goods with Northern Ireland, and boxes 2, 8 and 9 of the VAT return follow that. Kinnow does not guess it.
Tell Kinnow what slows you down.
Answer three questions. Get the applications, the agents and a two-week plan for your business.