Moving to Cloud VAT Software: Migration and Security Tips

What moves and what stays when you switch

How to switch VAT software, step by step

1. Pick the right moment. The safest time is just after you file a return, which gives you a whole VAT period to set up and test. Avoid switching in the last few weeks before a deadline.
2. Export and keep everything. Download your transactions, VAT reports and returns for every period from the old software. Access often ends when the subscription does.
3. Check your records will stay digital. Making Tax Digital needs digital records and digital links between them. If your figures will now come from a spreadsheet, the nine box totals should come from formulas, not be retyped.
4. Connect the new software to HMRC. Sign in with the Government Gateway user ID you use for VAT, on HMRC's own page, and give the software authority.
5. Check your VAT periods. The open periods and due dates in the new software should match what you expect. If they do not, stop and check before filing.
6. File your first return through the new software and keep HMRC's receipt reference.
7. Then cancel the old software, once the first return is accepted and your export is saved somewhere safe.

If you are an accountant or agent, each client also needs to be linked to your agent services account, or HMRC will refuse the return as not authorised. See managing client VAT returns in one place.

Common switching mistakes

• Switching days before a deadline. If anything goes wrong there is no time to fix it, and a late return can bring penalty points.
• Cancelling before exporting. Once the account is closed you may not be able to get your records back.
• Retyping totals from the old system. Copying figures across by hand is not a digital link. Export them as a file, such as a CSV, instead.
• Expecting to amend an old return in the new software. A return cannot be changed once it is submitted. Correct small errors on your next return (net errors up to £10,000, or up to 1% of Box 6 with a £50,000 limit) and report larger ones to HMRC.
• Testing with a real return. There is no practice submission on HMRC's live service. Every return you send is real, so check the figures before you submit.

How to judge the security of any VAT software

• It is on HMRC's list. Check the product appears in HMRC's software finder for Making Tax Digital for VAT.
• It never asks for your Government Gateway password. You should sign in on HMRC's own page, and the software receives permission to file, not your password.
• It uses a secure connection. The address should start with https on every page, including sign-in.
• Each person has their own login. Sharing one login makes it impossible to know who did what.
• You know what it stores. Full accounting software holds every transaction. Bridging software may hold only your return totals.
• You can leave with your data. Check how to export your records before you sign up.

For more on keeping VAT data safe online, see is your VAT data safe in cloud MTD software.

How Swift VAT Pro handles your data

• HMRC sign-in: you connect on HMRC's own page with your Government Gateway user ID. Swift VAT Pro never sees that password.
• Your records stay with you: Swift VAT Pro is bridging software. Your records stay in your spreadsheet, and it holds your business details, the nine box totals you upload and HMRC's receipt for each return.
• Your Swift account: every page runs over https, and practice plans give each team member their own login.
• Your HMRC account in view: once connected, you see your VAT periods, due dates, amounts owed and payments, read from HMRC.

Plans start at £5 a month for one business, £20 for up to 20 and £50 for up to 100, with a 7-day free trial and no card needed. See the pricing page.

Final thoughts

Switching VAT software is low risk when you do it in the right order: just after a return, with a full export saved, and with one return filed through the new software before the old one goes. Your returns, periods and payments stay with HMRC throughout.

Disclaimer: This guide gives general information, not advice for your business. If you are unsure how the rules apply to you, speak to an accountant or contact HMRC.