Preparing and submitting a return

VAT Returns lists the periods HMRC expects from the company, with each period’s due date. Open a period and choose Prepare. Get your figures in by one of the three methods in Keeping digital records or by bridging. The nine boxes then appear.

Deadlines: a return and any payment are normally due one calendar month and seven days after the end of the period. HMRC’s page: VAT return deadlines (opens GOV.UK).

1. VAT due on sales and other outputs.
2. VAT due on acquisitions of goods made in Northern Ireland from EU member states.
3. Total VAT due: Box 1 plus Box 2. Calculated for you.
4. VAT reclaimed on purchases and other inputs.
5. Net VAT to pay HMRC or reclaim: the difference between Box 3 and Box 4. Calculated for you.
6. Total value of sales and other outputs, excluding VAT. Whole pounds.
7. Total value of purchases and other inputs, excluding VAT. Whole pounds.
8. Total value of goods supplied to EU member states from Northern Ireland, excluding VAT. Whole pounds.
9. Total value of goods acquired from EU member states into Northern Ireland, excluding VAT. Whole pounds.

Before you can submit, VATflow checks the nine boxes against HMRC’s rules. There are two kinds of message.

Problems that block submission. The Submit button stays disabled until each one is fixed in your records or your file:

• A box is missing a figure, or is not a valid amount.
• A box is negative. HMRC does not accept negative amounts in any box.
• A box is above the maximum HMRC accepts. This is usually a units error, such as pence entered as pounds.
• Boxes 1 to 5 have more than two decimal places.
• Boxes 6 to 9 are not whole pounds.
• Box 3 does not equal Box 1 plus Box 2, or Box 5 does not equal the difference between Box 3 and Box 4. This can only happen after a manual correction; VATflow normally calculates both.

Advisories you must acknowledge. These are sanity checks. Tick each one to confirm the figures are right, then you can submit:

• Every box is zero, so this is a nil return.
• The net VAT figure is unusually large.
• You are reclaiming more VAT than you owe, so this is a repayment return.
• There is VAT on sales in Box 1 but no net sales value in Box 6.

Submitting a VAT return is a legal act. Before VATflow sends anything you must tick HMRC’s declaration, which VATflow shows word for word:

When you submit this VAT information you are making a legal declaration that the information is true and complete. A false declaration can result in prosecution.

You will also be asked for a fresh code from your authenticator app. Each submission is a separate, deliberate step: VATflow never submits in the background or on a schedule.

When HMRC accepts the return, VATflow shows and stores the receipt:

• Form bundle number: HMRC’s reference for this submission.
• Processing date: when HMRC recorded it.
• Charge reference: HMRC’s reference for the amount due, where HMRC issues one.
• Payment indicator: how HMRC expects to be paid, for example DD when a Direct Debit is in place.
• HMRC correlation ID: useful if you ever need to raise the submission with HMRC.

A period can be submitted once. If you try again, VATflow stops you and shows the existing receipt. Corrections to a submitted period are made on your next return, or through HMRC’s error-correction process for larger amounts.

• Download PDF on a submitted return: the nine boxes, the receipt details and the company’s VRN, for your records or your accountant.
• Print receipt: a printer-friendly view of the same page.
• Export CSV on VAT Returns: the obligations list with periods, due dates and status.
• Digital records CSV: every import can be downloaded again in VATflow’s standard column layout from the prepare page.