Importing from Microsoft Access

The following section describes the detailed technical requirements for importing from an Excel workbook that has been exported from Microsoft Access, using the NJT standard format.

Access Export File Specification (Exported as an Excel workbook)

One of the main principles of Making Tax Digital is that any transfer of data must be undertaken digitally. To facilitate businesses that use Microsoft Access based Accounting systems, a function is provided to allow preprared VAT returns to be imported via an Excel workbook that contains a worksheet conforming to a 'Standard Format' as defined by NJT. The pre-requisite being that businesses are able to export to an Excel workbook as per the following example.

Example:

Workbook and Worksheet Definition:

• Workbook: The workbook can be exported from Access as an Excel '.XLS' or '.XLSX' format.
• Worksheet: The workbook should contain only 1 worksheet, therefore any worksheet name may used.
  Row 1 of the worksheet would normally contain the headings relating to the data in Row 2. However, these headings are not validated by the bridging software and therefore may contain any content.

Worksheet Cells Definition:

• Cell A2: contains the Taxpayer or Trading Name
• Cell B2: contains the VAT Registration Number
• Cell C2: contains the Period Start Date. Format: DD/MM/YYYY
• Cell D2: contains the Period End Date. Format: DD/MM/YYYY
• Cells E2 to M2: contain the values for Boxes 1 to 9. (Box 1 to 5 values should contain no more than 2 decimal places, Box 6 to 9 values should contain no decimal places, i.e. whole numbers only).