Alternatives to online VAT filing

As of July 2014 certain circumstances may make individuals exempt from online VAT Return submission and electronic payment of VAT following an amendment of the VAT regulations.

Compulsory online VAT filing was introduced in two tranches in 2010 and 2012 and became effective for all businesses in April 2012. The amendment came about following appeals in a test case against the mandate to file online in September 2013. The judge ruled that UK VAT law was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

VAT Filing

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The change is aimed predominantly at older people who may be computer illiterate, disabled people who cannot use a computer and people living in areas with unreliable internet access.

The VAT regulations now allow telephone filing, where that is possible, and paper filing where neither internet nor telephone filing are practicable.

If you have any problems submitting you VAT return online but do not meet HMRC’s criteria for an alternative method of filing remember that accountancy firms such as Tuchbands are able to help.

 

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