VAT deadlines and penalty points explained

When is my VAT return due?

For most businesses, the return and payment are due one calendar month and seven days after the end of your VAT period. A quarter ending 31 March is due by 7 May; a quarter ending 30 June is due by 7 August. Your exact obligations and due dates come from HMRC — MTD software reads them directly from your VAT account, so there's no guessing.

How late-filing penalties work now

HMRC uses a points system for late VAT returns. Every late return earns one penalty point. When your points reach the threshold — 4 points for quarterly filers (5 for monthly, 2 for annual) — you get a £200 penalty, and every further late return while you're at the threshold is another £200.

Points aren't forever: below the threshold, a point expires after roughly two years. But once you've hit the threshold, resetting to zero requires a sustained period of on-time filing (12 months for quarterly filers) plus having submitted everything due. In short: occasional lateness stings, habitual lateness gets expensive fast.

Late payment is penalised separately

Filing on time but paying late has its own escalating charges, starting after 15 days, plus interest. Filing the return on time is always worth it even if you can't pay immediately — and it's the part good software makes nearly effortless.

The cheapest fix is a reminder

Most late returns aren't hardship — they're a forgotten date. A reminder email two weeks before each deadline, from software that knows your actual obligations from HMRC, costs pennies against a £200 penalty. DueFile includes deadline reminders with every account.