- A VAT certificate is an important document
for any VAT registered business to keep on hand.
It demonstrates your business' right
to charge VAT on VATable sales
and contains all the key VAT details
that your customs or suppliers may need to know.
But what if you lose your VAT certificate
or never receive a copy in the post in the first place?
In this video we will cover,
what exactly is a VAT certificate,
how to view your VAT certificate online.
can your business charge VAT without a VAT number,
when will your VAT certificate be available,
and finally can HMRC send the copy in the post?
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When you register your business for VAT
HMRC will send you a VAT certificate
that details the following,
your business' VAT number,
the business' name,
details of when to submit the first return and payment,
and an effective day of registration.
So this is the date from which VAT needs to be charged
on VATable sales.
Your business maybe eagerly awaiting
the arrival of this VAT certification,
as legally your business cannot begin to charge VAT
on an invoice until it has the associated VAT number.
Your VAT registered business will need to display
the VAT number on any sales invoices where VAT
is being charged to demonstrate to the customer
that your business as an official collector of VAT
and being registered correctly with HMRC.
Where any of your customers question
the need to pay VAT
or the legitimacy of a VAT charge
they can take your business' VAT number
to the HMRC portal and check the VAT number
directly with HMRC.
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Whether you've lost the original VAT certificate
that HMRC sent you
or just want to know for future reference,
a copy of the VAT certificate can be found online.
You will just need to follow these four simple steps.
Number one is to log into your government gateway portal.
You'll need the username and password you created
when setting up the portal.
Then select view your VAT account.
The option to view your VAT account can be found
on the first page of the government gateway
after logging in.
Select View your VAT Certificate.
Once you are in your VAT account
you will find a link to view your VAT certificate
under the Manage Your VAT heading,
follow this link to view a copy
of your VAT certificate.
Choose from view, save or print.
All these options are available via the portal.
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Your business needs to be registered for VAT
and have a valid VAT registration number
in order to charge and display VAT on an invoice legally.
HMRC are very strict about this
and do not take kindly to those who break the law.
However there are certain situations where
it might be necessary to start accounting for VAT
a little early on.
First things first,
you cannot charge VAT prior to the effective date
of registration.
If you are registering voluntarily
then you will choose this date.
But if this is a compulsory registration
then it will usually be the date
that your business was required to register.
It can take some time from the effective date
of registration until the VAT certificate
is actually received.
So for example, you may have submitted
an application for VAT registration
to be effective on the 1st of May
but your VAT certificate, along with your VAT number,
did not come through until the 1st of June.
So how can you account for the VAT for invoices charged
during this period 1st of May to 1st of June?
If your business is selling to other businesses
then the simple solution would be to raise an invoice
excluding the VAT
and then raise the VAT only invoice
once your registration number comes through.
So for example, if your invoice is for £1000 plus VAT
then you can charge £1000
as usual in the main invoice.
And then once your business VAT number comes through
with the effective date,
raise the VAT only invoice for £200
to the same business customer.
Or you could simply wait until your business
VAT certificate comes through
and raise one simple invoice in one go.
If your business sells to ordinary consumers
then the advisable approach would be to
raise your prices by 20%.
That's the standard rate of VAT,
on the effective registration date
and state on the invoice VAT Pending.
Then once the VAT number comes through
re-issue a VAT invoice to the customer.
This approach is somewhat more onerous
but it's better to have collected the VAT money first
and sought out the administration afterwards.
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If you have recently registered for VAT,
then you may be keen to know your registration details
as soon as possible.
Most certificates become available within 30 days.
Although it can take longer than this at times.
How you receive a certificate
usually depends on how you made the application.
Where you made the application online yourself.
A copy is usually sent to your government gateway account
so you can retrieve it online
using the four step shown earlier.
Where an agent, such as your accountant,
made an application on your behalf
or you were not able to apply online
HMRC will usually send a copy of the certificate
in the post to your registered office address.
A copy of the VAT certificate is available online
via the portal the instant your business registration
has been processed by HMRC.
This means that if you keep checking the portal regularly
then you may be able to retrieve and print a copy
a day or so before the original certificate
arrives in the post.
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Yes of course HMRC can access copies
of your VAT certificate on request
but in the interest of efficiency
and making tax digital they will always try to
help you access the certificate online yourself.
If this proves to be challenging
or impossible for your business
then they can send a paper copy in the post.