VAT returns, from the same books
A VAT-registered company keeps its VAT records digitally and sends its VAT returns through Making Tax Digital for VAT. TaxPip does not prepare VAT returns. Preparing them is planned, but it is not available.
To HMRC1 month and 7 days after each period
Who needs it
A company that is registered for VAT sends HMRC a VAT Return, usually every three months, even when there is no VAT to pay or reclaim. All VAT-registered businesses are now signed up for Making Tax Digital for VAT: they keep their VAT records digitally and send returns using compatible software.
The return, and the payment, are due one calendar month and seven days after the end of the accounting period.
A company that is not registered for VAT sends no VAT return. Rent from a dwelling is normally exempt from VAT, so a company that only lets homes is usually not registered. Whether yours must be is for the directors to decide, with HMRC's guidance or an accountant.
How it works here
VAT is kept with each payment
Each payment in the books carries its VAT treatment, and the VAT in it where there is some. The records are digital from the start, so nothing is copied between programs by hand.
The return built from the records
The VAT return is built from those records, box by box, and shows how each figure is made up.
Review and approve
An owner reads the figures and the checks the software ran, then approves the pack. Its files are locked from then on: what is sent is exactly what you approved.
File it, and keep the result
Until it is available, keep your VAT records and send the return with software that works with Making Tax Digital for VAT. TaxPip shows you the date each return is due.
What to have ready
- The company's VAT registration number.
- The company's bank statements for the VAT period, uploaded and reviewed.
- Compatible software for the return itself.
What you will see once it is sent
Sending a filing from TaxPip is planned, but it is not available. When it is, every filing is saved before it is sent and followed until the authority has decided. These are the only states it can be in, and they only move forward.
Sending
Saved first, then sent. A crash cannot leave a filing that nobody has a record of.
Received
The authority has the message and has not decided.
Accepted
The authority has accepted it. The answer is kept with the filing.
Or it stops somewhere else
Rejected
The authority has said why not, and its reason is shown as it was sent.
Refused
The authority refused the message itself, so nothing was filed.
Unknown
The reply was lost, so there is no telling whether it arrived. It is never sent a second time by itself: you ask the authority, or say it never arrived.
What it covers, and what it does not
Registered companies only.
A company that is not registered for VAT has no VAT return to send.
Standard VAT accounting.
Special schemes, such as the flat rate scheme and the margin scheme, are not covered.
Dates and reminders, not penalties.
TaxPip shows when each return is due and reminds you. It does not work out penalties.
A working draft.
No accountant has reviewed the calculations. Check the figures, or have them checked, before anything is sent.
Questions
Does a company that lets property need to register for VAT?
Rent from a dwelling is normally exempt from VAT, so a company that only lets homes is usually not registered. Whether yours must be is for the directors, with HMRC's guidance or an accountant.
What is Making Tax Digital for VAT?
It is HMRC's rule that VAT-registered businesses keep their VAT records digitally and send VAT returns using compatible software. HMRC's VAT Notice 700/22, Making Tax Digital for VAT, on GOV.UK, sets the rules out.
Who submits the VAT return to HMRC?
You do, with software that works with Making Tax Digital for VAT. TaxPip does not prepare or send VAT returns. Doing so is planned, but it is not available.
Keep reading
- Filing deadlines for a UK limited company
When a private limited company files accounts, pays Corporation Tax, files its CT600 and sends its confirmation statement, and how the dates work.
- Company Tax Return (CT600) for a UK company
Build the CT600 from your books, with iXBRL accounts and computations, ready to file with HMRC. Free during early access.
- Products: accounts, tax returns and filings
Annual accounts, Corporation Tax, VAT, Self Assessment, the confirmation statement and closing a company: what each is and what TaxPip does for it.
Try it on your own books
Free during early access. An account takes an email address and a code: there is no password, no card to enter, and nothing is charged.