HMRC delays new VAT penalty rules
The first step towards alignment of VAT and direct tax penalties was due to take place in just two months but yesterday the government announced a delay. What’s the full story?
HMRC’s original timetable for the harmonisation of its late filing penalty and late payment interest regimes across most direct and indirect taxes was due to start on 1 April 2022 with the scrapping of the VAT surcharge rules. Following the announcement by the Treasury on 13 January this has been put back by nine months until 1 January 2023.
When the new rules take effect late filing penalties will be charged using a points system. Points will be added to a taxpayer’s record for each late filing and penalties will escalate the more points are racked up. For late payments there will be varying charges according to how late each payment is.
HMRC’s updated guidance about the new penalty and interest rules can be viewed here and here.
Related Topics
-
Electronic VAT return and payment due
-
Recovering underclaimed input tax
Your business has incorrectly failed to claim input tax on a particular expense for five years. You know it can only be corrected for four years to comply with the legislation, but are you aware of a potential three-month extra claim in some cases?
-
HMRC clarifies treatment of averaging relief under MTD IT
HMRC has updated its guidance to explain how averaging relief claims will operate under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD IT). The clarification addresses concerns about how farmers and creators will claim relief once quarterly reporting becomes mandatory. What has changed?

This website uses both its own and third-party cookies to analyze our services and navigation on our website in order to improve its contents (analytical purposes: measure visits and sources of web traffic). The legal basis is the consent of the user, except in the case of basic cookies, which are essential to navigate this website.