You may know nothing about VAT Accounting, but it doesn’t mean that you should remain ignorant. If you’re a VAT taxpayer, the more you know about it, the more benefit you as well as your business can are based on it. Listed below are five essential things that you need to find out about VAT Accounting.

1 – VAT Registration and De-Registration
How will you know whether you need to register or de-register for VAT? If your turnover is a lot more than �68,000 per year, you must sign up for VAT. If your turnover for the entire year is under �66,000, you’re allowed to de-register. Once you have registered for VAT, that’s whenever a VAT consultant will be useful to you. They are able to advise you on the most recent regulations and keep you and your business on the good side of HM Revenue and Customs.

2 – VAT Schemes
Businesses which are registered for VAT have to account for tax when they invoice customers or when their very own suppliers invoice them. HM Revenue and Customs has a number of VAT schemes that allow your organization to save lots of time or only take into account VAT when they are in fact paid. To work through which scheme bests suits you, seek the qualified advice of a skilled VAT advisor.

3 – VAT Records
It is your legal and mandatory obligation to help keep accurate VAT records regarding any tax paid or received. You must keep these records for a set period of time and you can find penalties for poorly kept records. Keeping accurate VAT records helps you to avoid paying an excessive amount of tax. To find out more about keeping accurate VAT records, speak to a VAT accounting specialist.

4 – VAT Responsibilities
Are you aware what your VAT responsibilities are? If not, you could fall foul of the VAT penalty system. A VAT consultant will let you know your VAT responsibilities and enable you to stick to them. You don’t need to be a VAT expert when you have a VAT adviser, they’ll keep you informed of most the position regarding Value Added Tax.

5 – VAT Penalties
As of 2009, a fresh VAT penalty system is set up. You can find two scenarios under which a penalty will apply. fcaest.com is regarding failure to notify about an under-assessment. This occurs whenever a VAT Return isn’t submitted and Customs need to estimate the assessment. If this assessment is leaner than the actual figure it should be and the taxpayer does not inform HM Revenue and Customs, then a penalty is liable.

Second, when someone submits a document that includes an error, this will also trigger a penalty. One when reasonable care had not been taken will undoubtedly be punished with 30% penalty. An error which is deliberate but not concealed from HM Revenue & Customs will be punished with a 70% penalty fine. Finally, an error that is deliberate and where concealment can be proved will result in a 100% fine. With a professional VAT consultant, it is possible to avoid making mistakes and paying the price for it.