Andrew Needham looks at what a business can do to manage its payment of VAT.
Unless a business is in trouble with HMRC or receives regular repayments of VAT, they are normally required to send in quarterly VAT returns. It is now mandatory for both the VAT return and the payment to be made electronically and payments must be received by HMRC (not just sent) seven days after the end of the month following the end of the VAT period – so if a business’s VAT return period ends on 31 October, HMRC must have the return and payment by 7 December.
Electronic payments can be made by Direct Debit, Faster Payments by internet or telephone banking, CHAPs, BACS Direct Credit, Online debit or credit card using BillPay and payment by Bank Giro Credit.
The best way to ensure that payments are made on time is to set up a Direct Debit to pay the VAT return. Payments are automatically taken from the account and all the
