Webinar - Your Questions on our Software Answered!

We hope you enjoyed our first webinar! We were thrilled to have so many of you log in, and submit questions - In fact so many questions were submitted that we haven't been able to squeeze our answers into just one post! 

*Some questions have been edited for clarity 

Questions regarding our Software

I currently use my own spreadsheet to calculate my tax liability - can I upload this directly into APARI and submit to HMRC?

You can upload your spreadsheet as a CSV file directly into APARI. As everyone's spreadsheets are different, you may need to make some formatting tweaks. Under MTD, you'll need to do this every 3 months.

How many submissions per year?

For eligible taxpayers, the MTD rules apply to:

• Each self-employed business;

• a single UK property business;

• a single foreign property business.

Each of these businesses will need 4 submissions during the year plus 1 legal declaration at the end of the year (known as an End of Period Statement).
All taxpayers will also need to make 1 further declaration to finalise your overall tax affairs for the year.

Do I need to have a separate bank account for my business or rental property?

The short answer is no! There is no legal obligation for you to have a separate bank account for your self employment or property transactions. However it is something we recommend - having separate bank accounts is an easy way to keep track of your business transactions, especially when uploading transactions into an MTD ready software.

 

Are we able to file online without submitting to third party software?

With the current Self Assessment system, you are able to submit your Annual Tax Return via the HMRC website - however this will not be possible for MTD. 

The quarterly transmissions will need to be submitted by a HMRC approved MTD software. Although APARI will take you through the full MTD submission journey, you can submit some annual information via the HMRC portal, in a similar way to the current tax return.

Is it possible to set up multi businesses or multiple properties within APARI?

Yes! You can set up multiple self employments, AND multiple properties within APARI.

If I miss an expense will I be able to include this information retrospectively?

If you need to amend the information within your quarterly updates, you can re-submit the quarter as many times as necessary. HMRC recognise that there are good reasons why taxpayers may need to make amendments, which is why there is no legal declaration required when you make a quarterly update.

 

When should I start using APARI? And does it automatically connect to HMRC?

You can start using APARI today! Even if you aren't eligible for MTD yet, you can still use APARI as a digital record-keeping tool, and be digitally ready in time for mandation. But don't worry, signing up to APARI does not automatically connect your data to HMRC - you connect to HMRC then you are ready, but this must be before your first submission.

What's the difference between Capital Allowances and tax deductible expenses?

Capital Allowances are HMRC's version of depreciation, and relates to capital assets, such as plant and machinery - they are a fair way of proportioning the expense along the life of that asset.

Tax deductible expenses are related to the day to day running of the business - read more about capital allowances in our help centre!

Does APARI deal with other sources of income - i.e pensions/employment etc?

Any income that is not required to be submitted quarterly through MTD, such as employment or pensions, can be included in our "other income" section of the software. When you are MTD registered, we will be able to automatically input some of this information (eg, p60's) directly from HMRC, removing the need for you to input manually.

How do we apportion non-transactional costs, such as usage of a private car?

There are a number of ways of dealing with apportioned transactions within APARI.

Although you can upload your bank statements, you can also add transactions manually if you wish. With an apportioned transaction, such as a motor expense, you can simply upload the amount that is relevant to your business.

Alternatively, you can upload the whole transaction as a part of your bank upload, and then edit the amount within the software, to the correct proportion.

Do APARI save the data / Ownership of the data in APARI - can this be downloaded easily in say .csv format for backup etc?

We will hold on data for 6 years as per HMRC guidance unless requested to be deleted. You can request a copy of this data which can be downloaded in a .csv format.

Can I use APARI on any device?

Yes! APARI was built to empower our users, with the ability to easily keep track of your tax position, and so can be used on PC's, tablets and smartphones.