Wrong - you need to start acting now!
Why?
Being based by the beautiful sandy beaches like this (sorry to rub it in but very few get to walk along the beach every day in their lunch break), the vast majority (by number) of businesses are seasonal and so the support businesses tend to be seasonal too.
Even if not in the leisure industry, most businesses will have peaks and troughs so this will also apply to them.
Lets look at the time line from now until 31 March 2019:
So as you can see despite the deadline being 17 months away a seasonal business has 2 weeks now, January 2018, November 2018, 2 weeks in December 2018 and January 2019.
Getting an appointment with your accountant in January can be a very difficult task. All those that have put off doing their tax return suddenly wake up and realise it needs doing urgently. That effectively wipes those months out.
That gives you 8 weeks!
So if you are using manual records (cashbooks, carrier bags etc) or excel act now - you can have the right system for you in place and working smoothly in good time so you can concentrate on running your business.
If you are already on software - is it compliant? For example only the very latest version of Sage 50 is, so you will need to upgrade*. Check it now - this may be a good opportunity to look around to see if there is a better solution for you as technology has move rapidly in recent years.
So pick up the phone/type that email today and get the ball rolling.
If you want an independent view then please feel free to get in touch and I will be only too happy to guide you through the process.
*Sage 50 version 24 is the only version that will allow you to file your VAT return from within the software after 14 February 2018