1 March 2010

Filing of Vat Returns online will be mandatory from 1 April 2010. Any business with a turnover of £100,000 or more will be required to file and pay VAT electronically from April. Vat Return periods which include accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2010 are also required to be filed and paid electronically.

The measure of turnover in deciding if you are over the £100,000 threshold is made at 31 December 2009. All businesses with annual turnover over £100,000 for the 12 months ended 31 December 2009 will be included in the new rules. If turnover is below £100,000 for this period, paper returns and payment may continue to be used. HMRC have however indicated that all returns will require to be filed/paid electronically by 2012, therefore further rules for lower turnover businesses are expected.

Penalties are chargeable where businesses fail to meet the online filing requirements. Penalties apply to returns made for periods ending on or after 31 march 2011, therefore in effect businesses have a year of grace to ensure their systems are updated to allow filing electronically.

Penalties start at £100 and increase in line with turnover.

If you are not sure what to do, contact Robert Layton or David Lee to discuss. The process requires you to register with HMRC for online filing, and returns must be completed online, unless you have the appropriate accounting software from which to file online automatically. Following submission of your return online, a receipt may be printed or email confirmation received.

At Layton Lee we have a dedicated team who are able to take away the headache of having to prepare your own Vat Return.

Why not ask for more details or obtain a quote by calling one of our partners.