Accountants' guide to setting up for MTD for VAT in QuickBooks Online

Getting set up with agent services account for MTD is an important step in submitting MTD VAT returns for your clients–this is different to your HMRC online services for agents account. Agent services enable you to act as an intermediary between your client and HMRC, allowing you to submit returns on their behalf.

You only need one set of credentials for MTD and it should be set up by the person responsible for your firm's tax or administrative matters, like a director, owner or lead partner. This is different from your existing Government Gateway IDs to access HMRC's other online services and doesn't replace them.

Adding all MTD details to your HMRC agent services accout will enable you to act on behalf of your clients when submitting their MTD VAT returns. To do this:

1. Sign in to your agent services account.
2. Add all your practice's existing Government Gateway details that are used for filing VAT for clients.
3. Copy across all your client's authorisations.

If you have multiple sets of Government Gateway credentials, make sure you copy them all to your agents services account in oder to link the authority for all your existing clients.

Note: HMRC advises that you add your clients to your new agent services account at least 72 hours before their VAT return is due and at least 7 working days before if they pay by Direct Debit.

For any new clients, you'll need to 'ask a client to authorise you' to file MTD VAT returns on their behalf directly from your agents services account. These clients must have a Business Tax Account (BTA) in order to do this.

To set up the MTD for VAT feature in QuickBooks Online, follow the steps in this article.

Once your practice is ready, the next step is to get your clients set up for MTD. To do this:

1. Go to Clients.
2. Select the client you want to set up MTD for.
3. Go to Taxes.
4. Select Set up VAT and follow the instructions.

That's it! The setup process is now complete. You can now view and submit your clients' VAT returns to HMRC through MTD in QuickBooks Online.Note: HMRC requires you to reconnect QuickBooks to HMRC every 18 months.