Online filing for VAT Returns
HMRC have published a note on their website which announces that they intend to move all VAT registered businesses with a turnover of more than £100,000 to online filing of VAT returns no earlier than April 2010. Businesses that fall into this category will also have to make their payments electronically.
Businesses with turnover below this level will have to make online returns from a later date.
I’d recommend any business that can moves to filing its VAT return online and paying by direct debit. This gives the benefit of having an extra seven days to get the return in to HMRC – useful but not essential – but best of all payment is not taken until about the 12th of the month after the due date. For example, if your VAT return period ends 31 March, you have until 30 April to submit it normally. With online filing you’d have until 7 May, and you’d pay the VAT by direct debit on 12 May. I found that when I did manual returns they took the money within two or three days of receipt. Now they don’t take the money until the 12th – that’s good for my cash flow!!
If you don’t already, and you have an Internet connection, sign up for submitting online VAT returns and paying by direct debit.
Just a note of caution, if you opt to pay electronically, but not by direct debit you have to make the payment by the seventh day of the month, and if that falls on a weekend, or bank holiday, the payment has to arrive on the last working day beforehand. That could take out as much as three days from your seven day extension.
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