Specialist VAT & Cross-Border Trade Advisory
It hits your cashflow before you've even made money. We manage your registration, schemes, and returns to protect your liquidity and ensure MTD compliance.
Do you need to register?
Mandatory Threshold
You must register if your taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period. Failure to do so triggers backdated penalties.
Voluntary Registration
You can register voluntarily below £90k. This allows you to reclaim VAT on costs (laptops, stock), but you must charge VAT to customers.
Why VAT is High Risk
VAT is the tax HMRC inspects most often because it is transaction-based. Errors here multiply quickly over thousands of invoices.
Late Registration Penalty
If you exceed the £90k turnover threshold and fail to register within 30 days, penalties are backdated.
HMRC will backdate your registration to when you should have registered. You will then owe 20% VAT on all sales made since that date, which you likely cannot recover from customers. This often bankrupts small businesses.
Broken Digital Links
Under MTD rules, copy-pasting figures from a spreadsheet to the HMRC portal is now illegal.
Making Tax Digital (MTD) requires a continuous digital link between your source invoices and the final return. If HMRC audits you and finds manual intervention (typing figures), you face immediate compliance penalties.
Reverse Charge Errors
Construction firms often pay VAT to subcontractors when they shouldn't. This money is lost.
Under the Domestic Reverse Charge (CIS), you must not pay VAT to subcontractors; you account for it yourself. Paying it incorrectly means you cannot reclaim it, resulting in a 20% hard cash loss on labour costs.
Which Scheme fits you?
Choosing the right VAT scheme can save you thousands in cashflow.
VAT Filing, Precision Engineered
Transaction Review
We pull your bank and invoice data via Xero/Dext. We check tax codes on every line item. Is that train ticket standard rate or zero rated? We ensure accuracy.
Scheme Optimisation
We verify you are on the right scheme. Should you be on Cash Accounting to aid cashflow? Is Flat Rate still efficient? We check every quarter.
Partial Exemption Calc
If you have exempt income (e.g., finance, property, insurance), you cannot reclaim all your input VAT. We perform the complex partial exemption calculation.
MTD Filing
We submit the return directly to HMRC via API software, ensuring a full digital audit trail that satisfies MTD requirements.
Payment Advice
We confirm exactly what to pay and set up the Direct Debit mandate if required, so you never miss the deadline.
What You Receive
VAT Return Submission
MTD compliant filing.
EC Sales Lists
For cross-border trade (if applicable).
Registration Service
VAT1 application management.
Option to Tax
Property VAT elections.
Investigation Support
Handling HMRC VAT enquiries.
Deregistration
Closing down VAT schemes safely.
Digital filing receipts provided instantly.
Get a ProposalComplex Sector Rules
Some industries have specific VAT rules that override the standard logic. Getting these wrong is the fastest way to trigger an enquiry.
Construction (CIS)
Reverse ChargeIf you are in the CIS chain, you likely should not charge VAT to your main contractor. We ensure your invoices are compliant to avoid rejected payments.
E-Commerce
Distance Selling / OSSSelling to the EU? You may need to register for the One Stop Shop (OSS) scheme. We manage the cross-border complexity of digital sales.
Property
Option to TaxCommercial property is usually exempt. We help you "Opt to Tax" so you can reclaim VAT on refurbishment costs, without trapping the asset.
Digital Services
Place of SupplySelling software or digital files? VAT is due where the customer lives, not where you are. We handle the international evidence requirements.
Common Questions
Currently £90,000 taxable turnover in a rolling 12-month period. Note: This is not your financial year; it's any 12-month window.
Yes. You can generally reclaim VAT on goods bought up to 4 years before registration, and services up to 6 months before, provided you still use them.
MTD means you must keep digital records and use software (like Xero) to submit returns. The old HMRC portal for manual typing is closed for VAT.
Yes. Post-Brexit, 'Postponed VAT Accounting' allows you to account for import VAT on your return rather than paying at the border. We set this up.
VAT Healthcheck
Not sure if you should register? Worried about the £90k threshold? Book a review.
- Review of turnover & liability
- Scheme comparison (Flat vs Standard)
