VAT Return mistake correction

Hi, I made a mistake I need to correct. Before I knew how to import bank statements to accounts, I added some purchases manually which were logged as unpaid in Febuary 2022. When I started importing statements I obviously had 2 purchases for the same purchase, when I tagged these purchases as paid it still left the ones I added manually as unpaid. Without realising the mistake I made, I made a submission to HMRC for my first VAT return locking these purchases as unpaid. They can now be found in Dashboard Purchase Management. Can someone please tell me how to correct this, obviously I know I’m going to have more VAT to return and probably have to contact HMRC. I hope I’m not the first person to of made this mistake lol

If you credit note those two unpaid purchases then the correction should be applied automatically to your next return by reducing the amount you reclaim on purchases next quarter.

HMRC don’t generally seem that bothered about you reporting small inadvertent errors like this (where “small” is anything less than about £10k worth of VAT either underpaid or over-claimed). They just tell you to correct for it on the next return and keep records to explain it in case you ever get inspected.

Hi Ian, thanks for your feedback however these are purchases made by me they are not sales and there’s 9 of them totalling 14k. I think what I need to do is somehow edit a VAT return that’s already been submitted thanks

Hello again, I’ve looked online and I’ve found posts from yourself advising to rollback the submission I’ve tried to follow the instructions but I can’t find the option to disable the online filing options. Thanks

Once a return has actually been submitted it can’t be changed without talking directly to the HMRC VAT helpline first. You can roll back the return in QuickFile but that doesn’t undo the fact that you’ve already submitted that period to HMRC, and QuickFile won’t let you submit the same period again. You can disable online filing and re-save the return so QuickFile locks the relevant sales/purchases again but it doesn’t change the numbers you have submitted to HMRC the first time round.

The list of open periods is pulled from HMRC systems in real time so the only way to get a submitted period corrected or re-opened is to persuade HMRC to do it for you. This is beyond the control of QuickFile and would be the same for any other MTD software.

If that’s 14k total then assuming they’re all at 20% that’s ~£2,300 too much VAT reclaimed. This is less than £10,000 so you only need to notify HMRC if you consider the error was “careless”, otherwise just make the credit notes to correct things on your next return and move on.

If you mean the VAT element alone totals £14k then you would have to report this separately and let HMRC decide what you need to do next.

Hello Ian, thanks for your help. I have a submitted VAT652 form informing HMRC of the mistake and selected that I would make the corrections on my next VAT return. So now I need to understand how to make the corrections on my next return and on the Quickfile system.
For the correction on the Quickfile system I need to delete these locked unpaid purchases, I know I have to rollback the submission and I do this by disabling the online filing option in my VAT settings. However I can find this option in my settings, all I can find in regards to this is VAT filing start date. Can you please advise me further in how to complete this process.
Secondly is correcting my next return, you said I should make credit notes but I don’t fully understand what you mean can you please advise me further in more detail.
Sorry for being such a pain, I usually use Youtube videos to help me but I can’t find any on this topic.

No, you should not roll back the previous submission. The correct thing to do is to leave that one as it is and correct the numbers with credit notes.

For each of the unpaid duplicate purchases you need to go to the payment record and use the “credit note” option under the “more options” button at the top. To keep things clean in your records make the credit note have the same date as the original unpaid purchase - provided you have not rolled back the original VAT submission this should do the right thing and apply the correction to your next return.

If you have already done the rollback then before creating the credit notes you will need to disable the option to file online in your QuickFile VAT settings by setting the “HMRC Account” drop-down to “no online filing”, then create a new return for the same period (with the duplicates still included, so it matches the same incorrect numbers that you submitted before). Then turn the online filing option back on by selecting the correct HMRC account again and create the credit notes as above, and everything should be straightened out in the next return.

This topic was automatically closed after 7 days. New replies are no longer allowed.