VAT payments

Accounting
1

Just a quick one; just submitted my VAT return for November, deadline being today.
We actually had monies due to HMRC this time around instead of a repayment (we do a lot of exporting).

Noticing online when I checked it said that payment should reach HMRC by the deadline also, I sent the monies via Faster Payments.
The email confirmation from quickfile said payment would be taken via direct debit on the 11/01.
And now looking online (a little further) it says payment would be taken in 3 days via direct debit.

My questions are;
Will HMRC automatically notice I’ve paid it via transfer and therefore not take the monies via direct debit?
Or will they take it anyway and have received two lots of the amount?

If that is the case, and they have the money twice, do I then claim that over payment to them back on the next return? And if again that’s the case, do I then assume quickfile will notice the extra amount and calculate it back automatically on the return for December? OR would thie be a manual process?

TIA

2

I couldn’t say for sure, if I’m honest I’ve not come across this type of situation before. Perhaps someone else will have a better idea than I would on this?

If you end up paying twice the additional sum will sit as a credit on your VAT account with HMRC. If you contact the VAT office then they should be able to issue a refund. Of course one option may be to cancel the Direct Debit with your bank but obviously it’s a bit of hassle setting that up again later.

Regarding QuickFile recognising any double payment, this should be very straight forward. When a VAT return is comitted a debit is posted to the VAT Liability Account (2202), if two payments are made the two credits for the same amount will also be posted to VAT Liability Account (2202). If HMRC refund the overpayment you just tag that as a debit back to 2202 and it will even out.

Hope that helps!