The VAT penalty regime that applies to the late submission and / or late payments of VAT returns changed for VAT return periods beginning on or after 1 January 2023. Under the new regime, there are separate penalties for late VAT returns and late payment of VAT.
The system is points-based. This means that taxpayers will incur a penalty point for each late VAT submission. At a certain threshold of points, a financial penalty of £200 will be charged and the taxpayer will be notified. The threshold varies depending on the required submission frequency (monthly, quarterly, annual). For quarterly VAT returns, the penalty points threshold will be 4 points. The penalty points will reset to zero following a period of compliance, for quarterly returns this requires 12 months of compliance. There are time limits after which a point cannot be levied.
There are also late payment penalties. A first payment penalty of 2% of the unpaid tax that remains outstanding 16-30 days after the due date. The second payment penalty increases to 4% of any unpaid tax that is 31 or more days overdue.
Late payment interest will be charged from the date a payment is overdue until the date it is paid in full. Late payment interest is calculated as the Bank of England base rate plus 2.5%.