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COVID-19

COVID-19: VAT payments

The UK government has announced that there will be a deferral of VAT payments falling due between 20 March and 30 June 2020. This is part of a package of measures to support businesses during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The deferral will apply automatically to UK businesses and no application is required.

For businesses on quarterly VAT returns, this will generally mean the deferral of one quarter’s VAT:

  • the payment due on 7 April for businesses with a VAT period ending February 2020;
  • the payment due on 7 May for businesses with a VAT period ending March 2020; and
  • the payment due on 7 June for businesses with a VAT period ending April 2020.

For businesses on monthly VAT returns, the payments due for the February 2020, March 2020 and April 2020 VAT returns will be deferred. For payments on account traders, any payments due before 30 June 2020 will be deferred.
In all cases, VAT returns must still be filed on time as normal. HMRC have said that VAT refunds and reclaims will continue to be paid as usual in this period.

Businesses will be given until 31 March 2021 to pay any VAT liabilities accumulated during the deferral period.

The deferral applies only to UK businesses, and so non-UK businesses with a UK VAT registration will need to pay their VAT on time as normal.