HMRC are sending out letters to VAT registered businesses advising them that their Direct Debits may be cancelled for VAT if they have not provided their email address to HMRC.
In order for HMRC to comply with the UK banking regulations, they must advise you in advance of the amount of VAT they will be taking from your bank account. There is not always sufficient time between submitting a VAT return to HMRC and the payment needing to be taken to allow HMRC to send the notification to you through the post. Therefore, they will require you to provide an email address if you would like to continue to pay your VAT by Direct Debit.
The Direct Debits may be cancelled between 1 July and 30 November 2021, so you will need to monitor this over a 5 month period.
HMRC have advised that you set up a Business Tax Account
This will allow you to check to see if your Direct Debit is still set up for VAT. To check if this is still set up:-
- Go to www.gov.uk/guidance/sign-in-to-your-hmrc-business-tax-account
- Select the VAT tab
If your Direct Debit has been cancelled, you will receive a prompt to set up a new Direct Debit
- Follow the on screen instructions
If your Direct Debit is still set up, HMRC have advised you to check your Business Tax Account at the end of your next VAT period to make sure it is still set up.
- Direct Debits must be set up at least 10 working days before your next payment is due, otherwise, you will need to arrange payment of your VAT liability by alternative methods such as online banking.
Agents cannot check to see if a Direct Debit is still set or set up a new Direct Debit on your behalf, you will need to do this yourself.
If you do not have a Business Tax Account set up, please go to the HMRC link shown above, select Sign In, and then you should see an option to Create Sign In details on the next page.
If you need any information to set up your Business Tax Account for VAT, please contact Hannah Stone in our Business Services Team.
June 21st, 2021
