Deferred VAT Payment Plans

Did you defer your VAT payment earlier in the year?

HMRC have promised more information on paying the deferred VAT in early 2021. What we know so far is that you have to opt-in and you need a government gateway account to organise the repayments. The government scheme meant that any VAT due between 20th March 2020 and 30th June 2020 could be deferred to be paid at an agreed later date. Subsequent returns and payments should have been made and paid.

If you are not up to date with your VAT submissions and payments you will not be able to take advantage of the payment plan for March 21. As long as the VAT return was submitted on time and the direct debit cancelled for that payment, businesses were given the option to make the payment over an agreed period of time. This is in the form of between 2 and 11 equal instalments starting March 2021.

In order to take advantage of this you must have a government gateway account set up. If any agent files your VAT for you and you do not have a gateway account you can set one up here. If you need assistance we can help you set up your account.

Please be aware it can take a number of days so if you are planning to use the opt-in VAT deferral payment system you should get this set up as soon as possible. You will also be required to sign up to make the payments by direct debit. Currently we know you will have to sign up and make the first payment by the end of March 21. Hopefully in the new year we will have more information and be able to look at the options available.

VAT and Making Tax Digital

There are changes coming for businesses who are not currently filing their VAT digitally. From April 2022, the plan is to introduce MTD to all VAT registered businesses including those who have voluntarily registered and have a turnover below £85000. So if you are VAT registered and not currently using cloud accounting to file your VAT then it is something you should be considering ready for the 2022 deadline. You can read more about the changes coming in our blog here.

Haines Watts

If you are concerned about paying your deferred VAT, struggling with VAT filing or bookkeeping then please get in touch. We offer help and support with regard to VAT submission and offer a full range of bookkeeping and payroll services. We work with a variety of cloud accounting packages to suit all size businesses.

To find out more about our bookkeeping services visit our website here. If you would like help with the deferred VAT, MTD, bookkeeping or payroll please get in touch on the number below or drop us an email to eastanglia@hwca.com