UK VAT Return and Payment Deadline Calculator

HMRC's rules behind each date

Standard scheme

"The deadline for submitting your return online is usually one calendar month and 7 days after the end of an accounting period. This is also the deadline for paying HMRC. You need to allow time for the payment to reach HMRC's account."

For a period ending on the last day of a month, "one calendar month" runs to the last day of the next month, so a period ending 28 February 2026 is due on 7 April 2026. GOV.UK's calculator gives the same dates.

Direct Debit

"Once you've set up the Direct Debit and submitted your return, payments will be collected automatically from your bank account 3 working days after the payment deadline on your VAT return."

GOV.UK also says: "Set up the Direct Debit at least 3 working days before you submit your VAT return, otherwise the payment will not be taken from your bank account". The "latest set-up date" this page shows is the date GOV.UK's calculator shows for the same period (5 working days before collection in every case we tested). You cannot use Direct Debit if you have a payments on account arrangement.

Faster Payments, CHAPS and Bacs

From Pay your VAT bill: "Faster Payments usually reach HMRC on the same or next day, including weekends and bank holidays." "CHAPS payments usually reach HMRC the same working day if you pay within your bank's processing times." "Bacs payments usually take 3 working days." The CHAPS and Bacs dates here are the last working day on or before the deadline, and for Bacs the send date 2 working days earlier, which matches GOV.UK's calculator.

Annual Accounting Scheme (VAT Notice 732)

"The due date for annual VAT Returns is normally 2 months after the end of the annual accounting year. However, if you have a part year of less than 4 months, you will only get a month to submit your return and balancing payment."

Instalments: "You can choose to make 3 (quarterly) or 9 (monthly) instalments towards your end of year VAT liability." Notice 732 places the 9 monthly instalments in months 4 to 12 of the accounting year and the quarterly ones "in months 4, 7 and 10". HMRC tells you the exact amounts and dates: "When you join the scheme HMRC calculates and notifies you of the instalment amounts and dates they're due." Instalments "do not qualify for any extension to due dates as with normal returns".

Payments on account

"The due dates for payments on account are the last working day of the second and third months of every VAT quarter, no matter what your period end date is. The 7-day extension for paying electronically does not apply to payments on account."

The balancing payment is due with the return and, with standard period end dates, "must have cleared into HMRC's bank account by the last day of the month". The underlying rule for the return is regulation 25(1) of the VAT Regulations 1995: "not later than the last day of the month next following the end of the period to which it relates" (legislation.gov.uk). The same GOV.UK page adds: "If the deadline falls on a weekend or bank holiday, your payment must clear HMRC's bank account on the last working day before this, unless you pay by bank transfer (Faster payments)." Payments on account apply if you "send VAT returns quarterly and you owe more than £2.3 million in any period of 12 months or less".

Deadline examples, checked against GOV.UK's calculator

Standard scheme. Each row matches what GOV.UK's calculator returned on 2026-09-25.

The 28 February row shows why bank holidays matter: Good Friday (3 April) and Easter Monday (6 April 2026) are not working days, so the Bacs send date moves back to 1 April.

Weekends and bank holidays

The deadline itself is not moved: "You must submit your return and make sure your payment reaches HMRC on or before the deadline, even if it's on a weekend or bank holiday" (GOV.UK). What changes is the last day each payment method can be used. This page counts working days as Monday to Friday, excluding the England and Wales bank holidays published at gov.uk/bank-holidays; with them, our results matched GOV.UK's calculator in every test above, including the Easter 2026 case. GOV.UK has published them up to the end of 2028; for later dates only weekends are excluded, and the result says so.

Missed a deadline?

For VAT accounting periods starting on or after 1 January 2023, GOV.UK describes two separate systems:

• Late returns: "For each return you submit late, you'll receive a penalty point until you reach the penalty point threshold. When you reach the threshold, you'll receive a £200 penalty." The threshold is 2 points for annual, 4 for quarterly and 5 for monthly returns (penalty points and penalties).
• Late payments: no penalty if paid within 15 days; from day 16, "The first late payment penalty is calculated at 3% on the VAT you owe at day 15"; from day 31 a second penalty "calculated at a daily rate of 10% per year on the outstanding balance" also applies. Late payment penalties do not apply to payments on account or Annual Accounting Scheme instalments (how late payment penalties work).

Late payment interest is charged separately; see the linked GOV.UK pages for the current rules.