VAT return deadline: one month and 7 days, and where those 7 days actually come from

Your VAT return and the payment are both due one month and 7 days after the end of the VAT accounting period. Only the month is in the regulation. The extra 7 days is an extension HMRC allows by direction — real, relied on by everyone, but resting on a different legal footing.

What is the VAT return deadline?

One calendar month and 7 days after the end of the period the return covers, for a business filing electronically and paying electronically.

For a quarter ending 31 March, that is 7 May. For one ending 30 June, 7 August. The same date governs both the return and the payment.

Is "one month and 7 days" actually in the law?

No — and this is worth understanding, because the two components have different legal status.

Regulation 25(1) of the VAT Regulations 1995 states the statutory deadline: a return must be made "not later than the last day of the month next following the end of the period to which it relates". That is one calendar month, with no additional days. It is the bare statutory position.

The extra 7 days comes from regulation 25A(20), which allows additional time to make a return by electronic return system — or by paper return where any related payment is made solely by electronic communications. But the regulation fixes no number. It grants the extra time "only as the Commissioners may allow in a specific or general direction, and such a direction may allow different times for different means of payment".

So the 7 days is the figure HMRC allows by direction under that power and publishes in guidance. It is a directed extension resting on a statutory power, not a period stated in the instrument.

The practical consequence: work to 7 days and you are working to a direction, which is correct and is what HMRC expects. But the statutory backstop underneath it is one month, and the extension is conditional on how you file and pay.

When is my VAT return due?

Count one calendar month from the end of your VAT accounting period, then add 7 days. Most VAT-registered businesses file quarterly, so this recurs four times a year on a rolling basis rather than landing on fixed calendar dates.

The anchor is the end of the VAT accounting period, which is not necessarily aligned with your financial year end.

Does the VAT return deadline shift for weekends or bank holidays?

No. The date does not move when it falls on a weekend or a bank holiday.

This matters more for VAT than for most deadlines, because the same date governs cleared payment. A 7 May deadline falling on a Sunday still means the money must be in HMRC's account, not merely instructed.

Does the same date apply to the payment?

Yes. The one date governs both submitting the return and payment cleared into HMRC's account.

That is why late filing and late payment can be triggered by a single missed date — and why they then run through two entirely separate penalty regimes, described next.

What is the penalty for a late VAT return?

A points-based regime under Schedule 24 to the Finance Act 2021. A point accrues for each late return. No money is charged for a point on its own — the fixed penalty falls due when you reach the points threshold for your return frequency.

The penalty at the threshold is £200, under paragraph 15(4).

How many points before a VAT penalty?

The thresholds are set by paragraph 5(9) and depend on how often you file:

• Annual returns: 2 points
• Quarterly returns: 4 points
• Monthly returns: 5 points

A quarterly filer therefore has three late returns without a charge, and is penalised on the fourth. The design is deliberately tolerant of an isolated slip and intolerant of a pattern.

What is the penalty for paying VAT late?

A separate regime, under Schedule 26 to the Finance Act 2021, structured in two stages.

First penalty, in two halves. Under paragraph 5(4), amount A is 3% of so much of the tax due as is unpaid at the end of the 15 day period. Under paragraph 5(5), amount B is a further 3% of so much as is unpaid at the end of the 30 day period.

Second penalty. Under paragraph 8(3), the penalty rate is 10% per annum, accruing daily across the further penalty period on whatever remains unpaid after day 30, until the balance is cleared.

Can the first late payment penalty be avoided?

Partly, and the structure rewards moving quickly. Because amount A is computed on what is unpaid at the end of the 15 day period and amount B on what is unpaid at the end of the 30 day period, tax cleared between day 15 and day 30 attracts only the first 3% — not both.

A time to pay agreement can also displace the first penalty.

Do VAT penalties and interest both apply?

Yes — simultaneously, and they are cumulative rather than alternatives. This is the point most often understated.

Section 101 of the Finance Act 2009 applies late payment interest to any amount payable to HMRC under or by virtue of an enactment. Section 101(2) excludes corporation tax and petroleum revenue tax; VAT is not excluded. So the Schedule 26 penalties and section 101 interest run at the same time, computed on different bases: the penalties as percentages fixed at day 15 and day 30 plus an annualised second penalty, the interest as a running charge from the due date.

Presenting either one alone understates the cost of paying late.

How is VAT interest charged?

Under section 101(3), the amount carries interest at the late payment interest rate, and under section 101(4) interest runs from the date on which that amount becomes due and payable — that is, from this deadline.

No rate figure appears on this page. The late payment interest rate is set under delegated powers and moves; the statutory mechanism is the stable thing, and a percentage copied from a rate table would not stay right.

What is not covered here?

Two VAT regimes with different deadlines are outside this page: the annual accounting scheme and the payments on account regime. Both change the timing described above, and neither is part of the verified position behind this page. If you are on either, the one month and 7 days pattern does not describe your obligations.

How do I file a VAT return?

Through Making Tax Digital compatible software, with the payment arranged to clear by the same date. The operational point worth planning around is that the deadline governs cleared payment — so the money needs to leave earlier than the date itself, particularly across a weekend.

Related

• VAT registration threshold — the two tests that bring you into the regime
• PAYE payment deadline — the other rolling HMRC payment obligation
• Pay corporation tax — annual rather than quarterly, and with no late-payment penalty
• Pillar hub: UK VAT obligations (placeholder)
• Companies House deadline checker — your company filing deadlines alongside the tax ones