Accountancy & Business Knowledge

VAT

VAT Relief For Old Debts

On a slightly better note, the Revenue have not published this widely, because I suppose that they do want you to take advantage of this relief, but if you have debts six months older than your normal payment terms then you can legitimately deduct the VAT associated with the debt from your next VAT Quarters payment and only subsequently pay over the VAT if the debt is collected.

VAT Changes

If your business has an annual VAT exclusive turnover of £100,000 or more or you registered for VAT on or after 1stApril 2010 then you now must file your VAT Returns online and pay VAT electronically for accounting periods starting on or after 1stApril 2010.

If you are still paying by cheque the change is that in the past your payments were considered as on time if the cheque arrived on or before the due date now they will only be considered on time if the funds are in the Revenue’s bank account on the due date.

The Revenue state that a cheque takes three bank working days to clear – that excludes Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. If your payment arrives after the due date the revenue can apply penalties and surcharges and have started writing letters to this effect, it would seem that your first “offence” only gets a warning..