VAT returns
VAT registration, choosing the right scheme and quarterly returns, so you never pay more VAT than you need to.
Who it's for
- Businesses getting close to £90,000
- VAT-registered companies
- Trades and contractors
- Online sellers
What's included
- VAT registration with HMRC
- Scheme review: standard, flat rate or cash accounting
- Quarterly returns filed through MTD
- VAT on purchases checked and reclaimed
- Deadline reminders
- Help if HMRC opens a VAT check
Key rules
- £90,000
- Registration threshold, over any 12 months
- 30 days
- To tell HMRC once you go over
- 1 month + 7 days
- Return and payment due after each quarter
- Late
- Penalty points and interest can apply
At the end of every month, add up your sales for the last 12 months. The threshold doesn't wait for your year end.
Are you close to the VAT threshold?
Add up your VAT-taxable sales for the last 12 months, up to the end of last month.
Example figures shown. Leave out VAT-exempt sales.
Worth knowing
Common questions
When your taxable sales for the last 12 months go over £90,000, or you expect to go over in the next 30 days on their own.
It can make sense if most of your customers are VAT-registered businesses or you have large VAT costs to reclaim. If you sell mainly to the public, it usually means raising prices. We'll run the numbers with you.
You pay HMRC a fixed percentage of your VAT-inclusive sales, set by your trade. It's simpler and saves some businesses money, but if you spend very little on goods you may count as a limited cost trader at 16.5%, which rarely pays.
Yes. Smaller errors can usually be corrected on your next return. Larger ones are reported to HMRC separately. Telling HMRC before they find it keeps penalties down.
General information only, not personal advice. Correct as of October 2026.
Get a price for VAT returns
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