It is a little less than a year ago when the world as we knew it was no more, and we were thrown into a way of living none of us could have imagined possible.
The Government stepped in with various measures to help business owners. One measure was the deferral of VAT payments which were due between 20th March 2020 and 30th June 2020.
The deferral is now coming to an end and HMRC have finally released information on bringing this VAT up to date. There are three options, you can choose to either:
- Pay the deferred VAT in full before 31 March 2021.
- Join the new VAT deferral payment scheme which is an online service that you must opt into. No interest is payable and full payment will need to be made before the service ends on 21 June 2020. (See more info below).
- Contact HMRC on Telephone: 0800 024 1222 by 30 June 2021 if you need extra help to pay.
The new VAT deferral scheme
This will allow you to:
- pay your deferred VAT in installments without adding interest.
- select the number of instalments from 8 to 11 equal monthly payments (you must join by 19th March to take advantage of 11 instalments).
To use this new scheme, you must:
- still have deferred VAT to pay.
- be up to date with your VAT returns.
- opt in before the end of March 2021.
- pay the first instalment when you opt in.
If you opt into the scheme, you can still have time to pay for other HMRC debts and outstanding tax.
Get ready to opt into the new VAT deferral scheme
Before opting in you must:
- create your own Government Gateway account, if you do not already have one (*if you are a customer of ours, we may have it, check with us if you don’t have it yourself or aren’t sure)
- submit any outstanding VAT returns from the last 4 years. You will not be able to join the scheme if you have not done so.
- correct errors on your VAT returns as soon as possible.
- make sure you know how much you owe, including the amount you originally deferred and how much you may have already paid.
You should also:
- pay what you can as soon as possible to allow us to show the correct deferred VAT balance.
- consider the number of equal instalments you’ll need, from 2 to 11 months.
Let us know any questions!
*During the set-up of your VAT scheme, or when being registered for Making Tax Digital (MTD), we may have set up gateway accounts on your behalf. If you do not have your GG details, please check with us first before setting one up as we may have it. Please do the following –