New legislation, which comes into force in April this year, will see changes to the way businesses pay VAT and file their annual returns.
As of April 1, 2010 certain VAT-registered will be required to file and pay their VAT return online. All employer annual returns will have to be filed online as of the same date. This spring also sees the introduction of new penalties for late payment of PAYE.

VAT-registered traders, who have an annual VAT-exclusive turnover of £100k or more, will have to file their VAT returns online, and pay electronically. This applies to VAT returns for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2010.

Existing companies with a turnover of less than £100k can still file on paper for the time being, but online filing is likely to be mandatory for all companies by 2012.

Any traders who register for VAT on or after 1 April this year will have to file online and pay electronically, regardless of their turnover.

From this year all employers will also have to file their Employer Annual Returns online - that's their P35s and their P14s. Previously, it was only employers with 50 or more employees that had to file online, but from this year it's everyone.

The changes will be followed next year by changes to corporation tax filing and payment.

HMRC has set out all of the changes in a 'Super Podcast' which explains the changes in full, and what retailers need to do in order to comply. You can listen to the Podcast here: