VAT Services for Small & Medium-Sized Businesses
Practical VAT bookkeeping and VAT return support to keep your records accurate, meet HMRC requirements and help ensure everything files on time.
Managing VAT can take valuable time away from running your business. Accurate records need to be maintained, VAT needs to be calculated correctly and VAT returns must be submitted to HMRC by the appropriate deadlines.
Sandra Silk Bookkeeping & Payroll Services can take care of the day-to-day VAT bookkeeping and help prepare and file VAT returns, giving you confidence that your VAT records are organised, up to date and properly managed.
Whether you're newly VAT registered, already submitting regular VAT returns or need help getting your records back under control, our experienced bookkeeping team can provide the level of support your business needs.
VAT Returns Without the Last-Minute Rush
For most businesses, a VAT return covers a three-month accounting period. If you're VAT registered, a return must be submitted even when there's no VAT to pay or reclaim.
Keeping your bookkeeping up to date throughout the VAT period makes preparing your return considerably easier. Rather than waiting until the deadline approaches and trying to find missing invoices, receipts and transactions, we can maintain accurate VAT records throughout the quarter and prepare the information required for your return.
This helps your business file VAT returns on time and gives you a clearer idea of your VAT position before the payment deadline arrives.
Accurate VAT Bookkeeping Keeping Your Returns Simple
Accurate Records Are the Foundation of an Accurate VAT Return
Good VAT bookkeeping starts long before the VAT return is due.
We'll help keep your financial records accurate and organised, ensuring VAT-related transactions are recorded consistently and the information needed for your return is readily available.
Depending on your requirements, VAT bookkeeping support can include:
- Maintaining accurate sales and purchase records
- Recording VAT on business transactions
- Bank and account reconciliations
- Keeping digital VAT records up to date
- Identifying missing or incomplete bookkeeping information
- Preparing the figures required for VAT returns
- Maintaining records within accounting software such as Xero
By keeping your bookkeeping current, VAT becomes part of your regular financial administration rather than a stressful job every few months.
Preparing & Filing VAT Returns
Helping Your Business Meet Its VAT Deadlines
VAT deadlines can easily become another administrative burden for a busy business owner. For businesses using standard quarterly accounting periods, VAT returns and payments are generally due one calendar month and seven days after the end of the accounting period.
We can work with you throughout the VAT period, maintain the underlying bookkeeping and prepare your VAT information ready for submission. Having an experienced bookkeeping team managing the process means you don't have to remember every VAT deadline or spend valuable time working through your records at the last minute.
The aim is simple: accurate VAT records, correctly prepared VAT returns and everything ready to file on time.
Making Tax Digital for VAT
VAT-registered businesses are generally required to keep digital VAT records and submit VAT returns using accounting software compatible with Making Tax Digital for VAT.
If you're unsure whether your existing bookkeeping system meets these requirements, we can help.
Sandra Silk Bookkeeping & Payroll Services works with digital accounting systems including Xero, helping businesses maintain their VAT records electronically and prepare the information needed to submit their VAT returns.
If you're moving away from spreadsheets or older bookkeeping methods, our Xero Certified Advisers can also help set up Xero and provide one-to-one training.
VAT Schemes
Understanding the Different Ways to Account for VAT
Not every VAT-registered business accounts for VAT in exactly the same way. There are several VAT schemes designed to change or simplify how eligible businesses calculate and account for VAT. Depending on your circumstances, these can include:
- Flat Rate Scheme
Eligible small businesses may be able to calculate the VAT they pay to HMRC as a percentage of their VAT-inclusive turnover rather than calculating the difference between VAT charged and VAT paid in the usual way. - Cash Accounting Scheme
Under the Cash Accounting Scheme, eligible businesses account for VAT based on when customers pay them rather than when invoices are issued. - Annual Accounting Scheme
Eligible businesses using Annual Accounting normally submit one VAT return each year and make advance VAT payments during the year.
Different VAT schemes have different eligibility requirements and may not be suitable for every business. If you're unsure how a particular VAT scheme affects your bookkeeping, speak to us about the records you'll need to maintain.
Talk to Us About Your VAT Bookkeeping
VAT Support With Your Bookkeeping
VAT shouldn't be treated as an isolated job every three months.
When your regular bookkeeping and VAT records are managed together, it's much easier to keep your financial information accurate and identify anything that needs attention before the VAT return deadline.
If we already manage your bookkeeping, VAT can form part of the regular service we provide. If you're approaching us specifically because you need help with VAT, we can discuss the state of your existing records and what needs to be done.
That could mean regular ongoing VAT bookkeeping, help preparing your VAT returns, or getting records organised after bookkeeping has fallen behind.
VAT Services for Businesses in Salisbury and Across the UK
Sandra Silk Bookkeeping & Payroll Services is based in Old Sarum, Salisbury, Wiltshire and we provide bookkeeping and VAT support to local businesses as well as small and medium-sized businesses throughout the UK.
Secure digital accounting and document sharing means you don't need to be based nearby to benefit from regular bookkeeping and VAT support. Whether you need help maintaining VAT records, preparing your next VAT return or keeping your bookkeeping up to date throughout the year, talk to our team about the support your business needs.
Monthly VAT Returns for Farms and Estates
We also prepare and submit monthly VAT returns for farms and estates, where VAT can be more complex than other types of business. Agricultural and estate businesses often have a diverse mix of income and expenditure, which may include farming activities, land and property, machinery, contracting, residential or commercial lettings and other rural enterprises. Therefore different VAT treatments can apply to these activities, making accurate record keeping particularly important.
Our bookkeeping services for farms and estates helps ensure transactions are correctly recorded and VAT is treated appropriately, with monthly returns prepared accurately and submitted to HMRC on time. Where specialist VAT advice is required, we can also work alongside your accountant or tax adviser.
Frequently Asked Questions About VAT
Yes. We can deal with partial exemption calculations if your business makes both taxable and exempt VAT supplies. So, if your business makes a mixture of taxable and VAT-exempt supplies, we can help with the bookkeeping and VAT calculations needed for partial exemption. This includes identifying and allocating VAT on your costs, calculating how much input VAT can be reclaimed and applying the appropriate partial exemption method. We can also carry out the required annual adjustment and help ensure your VAT records and returns are accurate and compliant with current HMRC requirements.
If your partial exemption arrangements are particularly complex or require specialist VAT advice, we can work alongside your accountant or VAT adviser to ensure the correct treatment is applied.
