Accounting

VAT Returns · South East

VAT returns in Plaistow, Chichester

If your Plaistow, Chichester business has just crossed the £90,000 threshold, or has been VAT-registered for years and never had the scheme reviewed, this is the service. We register you if needed, choose the right scheme, and run the quarterly returns online for a published fee. No office, no hourly billing, serving South East entirely remotely.

from £35/mo · fixed, per month

Next deadlines

  • VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
  • VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
  • VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
  • Tax year ends: last day for pension, ISA and dividend timing decisions

Who this is for

VAT Returns for Plaistow

VAT-registered sole traders, partnerships and limited companies in Plaistow, Chichester: trades and construction firms dealing with the domestic reverse charge, retailers and cafes with mixed-rate sales, online sellers with marketplace VAT, consultants on the flat rate scheme, and businesses that have just passed the £90,000 registration threshold and need to register and file for the first time.

What is included

Everything inside the fixed fee

  • Quarterly VAT return prepared from your bookkeeping and reviewed for coding errors before submission
  • Submission through Making Tax Digital-compatible software with HMRC's receipt forwarded to you
  • Scheme review: standard, flat rate, cash accounting or annual accounting, whichever saves you most
  • Partial exemption, reverse charge, EU and import VAT handled where they arise
  • Payment reminder with the exact amount, reference and date before each 7th-of-the-month deadline
  • HMRC VAT correspondence about the returns we filed handled at no extra charge

How it works

VAT Returns from Plaistow, Chichester, step by step

  1. Tell us your situation

    A short message or call about what you do and what needs filing. We ask the questions that determine the right package and nothing more.

  2. Fixed fee in writing

    You receive one price for the work, confirmed by email before anything starts. It does not change if the job takes longer than we expected.

  3. Send records, review the draft

    Records come by WhatsApp or email. We prepare the draft, explain the figures in plain English and answer your questions.

  4. We file, you get the receipts

    Once you approve and the fee is settled, we submit electronically and forward the HMRC or Companies House acknowledgement the same day.

Why IGI

The IGI way of working, in Plaistow

One fixed fee for vat returns in Plaistow, Chichester, agreed in writing before any work starts and never changed part-way through the job, however long it takes us.

Nothing for Plaistow is left to the last week. Each deadline relevant to vat returns is tracked from the day you join, with the next four shown on every page we send you.

No appointments, no travel across South East, no parking. Everything for vat returns in Plaistow happens online, with a real person on the other end during UK working hours.

You get one contact for vat returns, not a queue. Plaistow, Chichester clients message the same person throughout and get an answer in working hours, usually within a few hours.

We explain vat returns in the words Plaistow, Chichester business owners use, not in accountant's shorthand, and we show our working so you can check it.

Nothing is filed for Plaistow until you have reviewed and approved it. You see the draft, you ask questions, you sign off, then we submit and send you the receipt.

Local facts

About Plaistow, Chichester

Plaistow, Chichester is in South East, England. Income tax in England follows the UK rates: 20% basic to £50,270, 40% higher to £125,140 and 45% additional, with the personal allowance of £12,570 tapered away above £100,000. National Insurance, VAT and Corporation Tax are UK-wide, and Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to property purchases.

Nearby places we also serve for vat returns
PlaceDistanceDirection
Ifold1 miE
Mackerel's Common2 miS
Loxwood2 miE
Balls Cross2 miSW
Shillinglee Park2 miW
Ebernoe2 miSW
Alfold Bars3 miNE
Kirdford3 miS

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

Late filing penalties

Lateness is expensive in a way that compounds. For individuals, £100 immediately, then daily penalties, then percentage-based ones at six and twelve months, with interest running on unpaid tax throughout. For companies, Companies House penalties scale with delay and double on repeat, and HMRC adds its own for a late CT600. Filing on time is the cheapest tax planning there is.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

MTD for Income Tax replaces one annual return with quarterly digital updates and a year-end declaration, submitted from software. The threshold is gross trading and property income, measured two years earlier, and started at £50,000 in April 2026 before falling to £30,000 in April 2027. Anyone affected needs digital record keeping in place before their start date, not after.

The Self Assessment calendar

Four dates govern Self Assessment: 5 October to register, 31 October for paper returns, 31 January to file online and pay, and 31 July for the second payment on account. Missing the January date triggers an automatic £100 penalty before any tax is even considered, so we treat it as the fixed point around which the rest of the year is planned.

Payments on account

If your Self Assessment bill exceeds £1,000 and less than 80% of your tax was collected at source, HMRC asks for two advance payments towards the following year, each half of the current bill, due 31 January and 31 July. The first year this happens the January payment is effectively one and a half times the bill. We model it in advance and show you how to reduce the payments if income is falling.

Salary versus dividends

Directors of their own companies usually take a salary at or just above the National Insurance thresholds, which keeps the year qualifying for State Pension and is deductible for Corporation Tax, with further income as dividends. Dividends above the £500 allowance are taxed at 10.75%, 35.75% and 39.35% by band and can only be paid from distributable profits after tax, with a minute and voucher each time.

Director's loan accounts

The most common tax problem in owner-managed companies is an overdrawn director's loan account: drawings taken during the year that were never declared as dividends or salary. The company faces a 35.75% charge on the balance outstanding nine months after the year end, and the director may have a benefit in kind. We review the account before every year end to clear it properly.

The VAT registration threshold

The £90,000 VAT threshold is measured over any twelve consecutive months, which is why a strong quarter can tip a business over unexpectedly. Registration must follow within thirty days of the end of the month the threshold was crossed. Below the threshold, voluntary registration is worth considering when customers are VAT-registered businesses and costs carry VAT.

Questions

VAT Returns questions from Plaistow

Can you handle a VAT registration from scratch?

Yes. Registration with HMRC is £49, or £79 with scheme advice, and £119 including your first return. We need your business details, turnover figures and bank account. HMRC usually issues the VAT number within two to four weeks, and we tell you how to invoice in the meantime.

Do I need Making Tax Digital software for VAT?

Yes. All VAT-registered businesses must keep digital records and submit returns through MTD-compatible software; HMRC's old online form is closed. If you have no software, our bookkeeping service provides it, or the MTD VAT setup package at £129 gets you compliant with your first return filed.

How does the domestic reverse charge affect construction businesses?

Since March 2021, VAT-registered subcontractors supplying construction services to VAT-registered contractors within CIS do not charge VAT; the contractor accounts for it. Invoices must say so. Getting this wrong in either direction is common and we check every construction client's invoices against the rule.

I sell online through marketplaces. Who accounts for the VAT?

For goods sold to UK consumers through an online marketplace by an overseas seller, the marketplace accounts for the VAT. UK-based sellers account for their own. Imports, low-value consignments and sales to EU customers each have specific rules, and our e-commerce specialists handle the detail.

What happens if a return is late?

HMRC's points-based system gives one penalty point per late return; at four points (for quarterly filers) each further late return costs £200. Late payment penalties start at 3% of the tax after 15 days, with daily interest from day one. We file on time if we have your records; late-filer rescues are £99 per return.

Can I claim VAT on everything the business buys?

Only on purchases used for making taxable supplies, with a valid VAT invoice. Business entertainment, most cars and anything with private use are restricted or blocked. If you make some exempt supplies, partial exemption rules limit recovery. We check these before each return.

Do you have an office in Plaistow?

No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Plaistow, Chichester and every other UK postcode remotely, with records sent by WhatsApp or email and everything filed electronically. The absence of local premises is why the fee for vat returns is the same in Plaistow as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.

Is vat returns in Plaistow really the same price as elsewhere?

Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Plaistow, Chichester pays and what a client in any other part of England pays. It is confirmed in writing before work starts and the invoice matches the quote. Where a higher package applies because your situation is more complex, we say so at the quote stage, never afterwards.

One message from Plaistow, one fixed price

Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.

WhatsApp for a fixed quote