Making Tax Digital

With the April 2019 deadline for filing vat electronically fast approaching we are pleased to be able to say that Liquidity has now been recognised by HMRC as ‘Making Tax Digital’ compatible. This means that anyone using Liquidity can file their vat return electronically in accordance with the new regulations that will come in to force in 3 months time. We are ahead of most software vendors in being able to provide this facility in advance of the deadline. At the end of November 2018 HMRC began to allow vat registered companies to apply to file their vat returns electronically if they are using software that is capable of performing electronic transmissions. Please note that, if a company’s application is accepted, they will no longer be able to file vat in any way other than electronically. There are also some circumstances under which an application may be rejected although these circumstances are unusual. As a user of Liquidity you may choose to apply by going to the relevant HMRC web page. A link for this page is provided below. Please copy and paste the link into your web browser and complete the application process as required. HMRC have already recognised Liquidity as being a ‘Making Tax Digital’ compatible product so you may file your next vat return using the electronic process. If you have any questions regarding this process please do not hesitate to contact us.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-software-to-submit-your-vat-returns

Customer Portal

Work is continuing at a pace on Liquidity’s new Customer Portal facility. This allows users of Liquidity to provide their customers with a web based login screen that accesses Liquidity data directly. The Customer Portal gives your customer the ability to place orders directly onto the Liquidity system and to view their own account details, reprint invoices, view the status of outstanding orders etc. In so doing the number of customer telephone queries is reduced and the work involved in entering sales orders is shifted to the customer saving staff additional time. The Customer Portal is currently being trialled by a number of Liquidity users and is available to others upon request. Phase 2 will be to extend the scope of the portal to allow sales representatives or agents to have their own version allowing them to place orders on behalf of their customers and to view their own sales figures, order statuses etc.

Office 365

Having upgraded a number of customers to Office 365 we now feel we can recommend this as the preferred replacement for earlier versions of Office. At first site paying a monthly fee for the use of Word, Excel and Outlook appears to be an expensive approach, particularly if you do not intend upgrading versions more often than every 2 to 3 years. However, as companies have found it necessary to upgrade servers and their operating systems, the problem of replacing Exchange Server, the software that manages and controls email distribution, has raised an important issue. Most of our customers have been using a variety of versions of ‘Small Business Server’ as their chosen server operating system which has always included a version of Exchange. However Microsoft no longer provide an equivalent Small Business Server product so if users wish to continue using Exchange on their own server then they have to purchase Exchange as a separate product and this can be very expensive. Office 365 however doesn’t only provide for the use of Word, Excel and Outlook but, if the correct version is purchased, can provide a ‘cloud based’ replacement for the traditional Exchange server whereby all of the mailbox configuration traditionally done on the end user’s server is maintained on Microsoft’s servers and Outlook users connect to their mailboxes across the internet. Furthermore, an Office 365 user license allows a user to load and use Word, Excel and Outlook on up to 5 different devices (e.g. a Pc at work, a Pc at home and a laptop). When the option to not replace your own Exchange Server is taken into account Office 365 becomes much more attractive and we have found it to work very well, particularly where users are connecting to email from multiple locations on multiple devices.

Returns Management

The release of Liquidity version 2.5 sees a new Returns Management system. This allows the generation of automated Returns paperwork to send to customers for the return of products whilst automatically linking the Returns details to the original sales documentation on which the goods were provided. Returned stock can then be quarantined, assessed and ultimately returned to the customer, replaced, scrapped or returned to the supplier. Credit Notes can be generated automatically should the customer not require a replacement.

.london web addresses

If you have kept an eye on the press lately you may be aware that there will shortly be a new range of web addresses being made available in the UK. These will start later this year with the launch of .London domains. Whilst they are not currently available, it is expected that registration for these suffixes will start around Easter time.

We are already keeping an eye on availability of some domains for interested customers. If you have an interest please let us know and we will register for you as soon as they become available.