Online VAT filing

[BliarOut]

What goes wrong when you swap to filing VAT online? My trust in government IT only extends as far as trusting them to completely fk up so I want to know what horrors await me in advance. Looks like everyone has to switch by 2012

[groomi]

I've been doing it for 2 or 3 years now. All seems to have worked fine.

Remember, you may be leaving yourself in the hands of Government IT, but you're removing yourself from the hands of the Royal Mail and incompetent paper handlers within the HMRC.

[anonymous-user]

Did it years ago & not had any problems. Get to keep hold of the ££ a little bit longer too

[Arese]

Has always worked fine for me, and it's pretty idiot proof. You still get all the 'boxes' to fill in, they are just on-screen rather than on paper.

[sumo69]

EVERY VAT registered business with a turnover in excess of £100k now has to file online with effect from this month, as do ALL new businesses that register (no matter what size their turnover is).

David

[groomi]

sumo69 said:

EVERY VAT registered business with a turnover in excess of £100k now has to file online with effect from this month, as do ALL new businesses that register (no matter what size their turnover is).

David

Good point.

BlairOut - where are you getting your info from?

[BliarOut]

Hmrc! Between 60k and 100k there is a time extension.

[Tuscanless Ali]

sumo69 said:

EVERY VAT registered business with a turnover in excess of £100k now has to file online with effect from this month, as do ALL new businesses that register (no matter what size their turnover is).

David

Has to pay online too.

[ClassicMercs]

Dave_ST220 said:

Did it years ago & not had any problems. Get to keep hold of the ££ a little bit longer too

Did my first one four months ago - they took the money - EARLY. Just submitted the second one last week. Waiting to see. I got three different answers from them about the actual date money will be taken. I agree with the opinion 'they don't know what they are doing' (never mind the fact they never answer the phone).

[anonymous-user]

IIRC the online form advises when the payment will be taken.

[Tuscanless Ali]

You don't have to sign up for HMRC to take the money via DD, you can pay them yourself via Online banking, at least that way you know when the money is going, but you do have to make sure it arrives on time.

[rich1231]

Have VAT refunds on most returns, as export alot of product. Usually takes 2-4 weeks for money to appear and the odd audit to check we are still running properly. The form takes seconds to fill in, however the daft multitude of pass codes and passwords to access it are a complete mystery to me.

[Chris_OCR]

I find the online process works really well actually, never had a single problem.

[Paul Dishman]

We're net reclaimers of VAT, as are most pharmacies. Sending the form by post meant that we'd get the refund in two weeks, whereas online we get it in three working days.

[BliarOut]

rich1231 said:

Have VAT refunds on most returns, as export alot of product. Usually takes 2-4 weeks for money to appear and the odd audit to check we are still running properly. The form takes seconds to fill in, however the daft multitude of pass codes and passwords to access it are a complete mystery to me.

This... As you need to do it circa every three months I'd expect the passwords to expire slightly quicker

[Wings]

Tuscanless Ali said:

You don't have to sign up for HMRC to take the money via DD, you can pay them yourself via Online banking, at least that way you know when the money is going, but you do have to make sure it arrives on time.

+1 agree, you decide every time when payment is made, thereby keeping an eye on cash flow. With any tax return/payment, always retain a paper copy of the same.

[Tuscanless Ali]

BliarOut said:

As you need to do it circa every three months I'd expect the passwords to expire slightly quicker

They don't, once you are set up it's the same login and password every time. I set up a password protected document on my desktop and just copy & paste the username as it's a bit longwinded.

[EU_Foreigner]

Am I the only one with a problem then? I got the notice of non payment, even though I had set up the direct debit.

Had to write a letter etc after they finally admitted they had not collected the money. No apologies of course, only a "we will let you off this time" type of response.

[anonymous-user]

BliarOut said:

rich1231 said:

Have VAT refunds on most returns, as export alot of product. Usually takes 2-4 weeks for money to appear and the odd audit to check we are still running properly. The form takes seconds to fill in, however the daft multitude of pass codes and passwords to access it are a complete mystery to me.

This... As you need to do it circa every three months I'd expect the passwords to expire slightly quicker

Never changed the password. Got some Government Gateway card with a key on it?