Regards the question Lyle asked, I have not been VAT registered for a very long time and when I was I only had one customer who operated self billing and self vouchering schemes for VAT and sub-contractors tax, as it was doing work for a new housing developer the VAT was zero rated and I was exempt from deduction of sub-contractors tax, so I only had to record and file their payment slips they sent me with the cheques, then claim the VAT back quarterly on my expenses then pay my income tax and National Insurance as required.

Those happy days of simple accounting are long gone, now I use an online accounting system that my accountant has, but I still keep a written accounts book as well, because if my accountants were to go out of business or their online accounting system goes down for some reason I would have no records at all, it seems over the top still keeping a written record as well as the online accounts, but several accountants I have worked for said I would be daft not to keep some written records.

Regards the question Lyle asked, I have not been VAT registered for a very long time and when I was I only had one customer who operated self billing and self vouchering schemes for VAT and sub-contractors tax, as it was doing work for a new housing developer the VAT was zero rated and I was exempt from deduction of sub-contractors tax, so I only had to record and file their payment slips they sent me with the cheques, then claim the VAT back quarterly on my expenses then pay my income tax and National Insurance as required.

Those happy days of simple accounting are long gone, now I use an online accounting system that my accountant has, but I still keep a written accounts book as well, because if my accountants were to go out of business or their online accounting system goes down for some reason I would have no records at all, it seems over the top still keeping a written record as well as the online accounts, but several accountants I have worked for said I would be daft not to keep some written records.