Online VAT Deferral Payment Scheme Service Extended

In a blog at the start of the year, we wrote about the various options to defer Tax owed from last year. If you did decide to defer your VAT payments, due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 and still have payments to make, you now have three options. You can:

• pay the deferred VAT in full, on or before 31 March 2021
• join the VAT deferral new payment scheme – the online service is open and has been extended to 21 June 2021
• contact HMRC on Telephone: 0800 024 1222 by 30 June 2021 if you need extra help to pay

Over half a million businesses are thought to have deferred VAT payments last year, mainly due to the Covid Pandemic, but these businesses can now join the online VAT deferral payment scheme which has opened last month.

Under the VAT Payment Deferral Scheme, businesses have the option to pay their deferred VAT in equal, consecutive monthly instalments from March 2021 April, May or June 2021 without incurring interest. 

Payment Instalment options available

The date you join the scheme will determine the maximum number of payment instalments that are available to you.

The following table sets out the monthly joining deadlines (to allow for Direct Debit processing) and the corresponding number of maximum instalments (including the first payment):

If you join by	Number of instalments available to you
19 March 2021	11
21 April 2021	10
19 May 2021	9
21 June 2021	8

Businesses need to opt-in to the VAT Deferral New Payment Scheme themselves; their agents can’t do it for them, while it is open between 23rd February 2021 and 21st June 2021. For those that opt-in to the VAT Deferral New Payment Scheme, this means that your VAT liabilities due between 20 March and 30 June 2020, will now need to be paid by 31 March 2022.

If you don’t pay your VAT, don’t opt in to the new scheme and don’t contact HMRC to discuss your situation, you may be charged interest or a penalty on the outstanding funds.

If you are still concerned about not being able to pay HMRC, speak to your accountant or ring this number and speak to the HMRC Coronavirus Helpline: 0800 024 1222 before 30 June 2021.

As the UK begins its journey on the roadmap the Prime Minister has set to come out of lockdown, it’s important that as a business- and a sector- we learn our lessons from 2020 and adapt accordingly. For the last 12 months we have tried to ensure that business owners know their options, understand the support that is on offer and that we are available for them.