AS I’VE just had a little nudge from HMRC, I thought I’d pass this on to you regarding VAT payments.

I must admit, I’ve often thought about doing my VAT submission online. At the moment I’m a VAT hybrid. I pay the VAT electronically, but send off the VAT form by post. Which sort of doesn’t quite make sense. I should go the full electronic route to be honest – especially for an online magazine. But we all get stuck in our routines, and sometimes we need a shake to make us change our ways; a nudge to move us out of our comfort zone.

But from next year, some of us are getting that anyway. The regulations governing VAT payments change. Now I know we all whinge about being unpaid tax collectors, but from the beginning of April 2010 if your annual VAT exclusive turnover is in excess of £100,000 you will have to submit your VAT returns online – and pay your VAT electronically. There’s probably an ‘or else’ bit too, but HMRC is playing the softly-softly card at the moment,

But it’s not just the bigger earners that will be affected. If you register for VAT from 1 April 2010 onwards, you’ll have to file online from the start, whatever your turnover. The from and process is secure, says HMRC, which also adds that doing your return online also helps reduce errors, provides automatic calculations and provides an on-screen acknowledgment that it’s been received. It’s also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so you can do your return at a time that suits you – which for most small businesses probably means sometime late at night.

The only thing you need to be aware of is that if you’re using HMRC Online Services for the first time, you will have to register for an online account.

For further help, watch the video guide on the basics of VAT on our Law & Tax page. Go to the big green ‘Get your tax right’ box at the top of the page, then on the left there’s a menu of videos – click on the VAT one and it will take you through the basics of it all.

Making electronic VAT payments