VAT returns

Requirements of VAT

VAT is a complex tax and it doesn’t necessarily follow the same logic as other taxes, such as income tax.

As a consequence, it’s important to get it right. A compliant VAT business needs to keep good records of VAT purchases, issue proper VAT invoices and pull all these inputs together in a MTD-compliant system for submission to HMRC.

Keeping accurate records, such as VAT receipts is important to validate what you can recover VAT on and provide support if ever investigated. These must include the VAT number of the company you have bought from, the tax point (date of the invoice, usually), the net, VAT and gross amounts and details of the product or service. And equally, any invoices you issue should include the same information.

How we prepare VAT returns

We will make sure you are compliant to the highest standard when it comes to your VAT. We act with the highest amount of care and caution here, so you are watertight should HMRC pay a visit, reducing the risk of surcharges and VAT penalties. HMRC take kindly to the adoption of robust accounting software and the support of an accountant in the event of an investigation and we intend to give them no reason to think otherwise with our high-grade VAT return service.

First, we will set you up with all the right tools to succeed, namely one of our preferred accountancy software packages and ReceiptBank, to ensure you are filing records effortlessly whilst meeting your obligations for compliance. Using cloud accounting software will also keep you MTD-compliant.

We perform a transaction-by-transaction audit of your records and will highlight any discrepancies or gaps to resolve, such as missing documentation or incorrect VAT coding.

We will then present a VAT return for your review, before filing to HMRC digitally and advising you as to how much to pay and when. All the while, we do more than simply file the VAT. We’ll constantly appraise whether you are on the right VAT schemes and if we think you could benefit from a change, we’ll let you know.

If you want help with the record keeping, it might be worthwhile asking us to handle your bookkeeping. Beyond saving you time, it could save you money as we provide a discount for any VAT returns we file, if we’ve had a hand in producing the books.