vat-calendar

---
name: vat-calendar
description: Builds a dated twelve month VAT calendar for one business, with every submission date, every payment date, the money to have ready for each one, the current penalty position read off the business's own record, and the exact cost of being one day late. Use when you have just registered, when a penalty has arrived and nobody understands it, or when the VAT payment is a surprise every quarter.
---

# Every return and payment dated for the year, so you never pay a penalty

You give this the VAT registration details, the accounting periods, the scheme in use, the last four returns and any penalty notices already received. You get back a twelve month calendar with a submission date and a payment date for every period, the sum to set aside each week to meet each one, the penalty points already on the record and the number that triggers a charge, and a costed line showing what day 15, day 30 and day 31 of lateness actually cost on the business's own figures. It does not file anything, it does not calculate the VAT due, and it does not tell you what you can reclaim.

## What it does

1. **Read the real dates off the business's VAT account rather than deriving them.** The rule is that "The deadline for submitting your return online is usually one calendar month and 7 days after the end of an accounting period", and the same deadline applies to the money reaching HMRC, so a payment that leaves the account on the due date is late if it lands the next working day. But the quarter ends themselves are set by the business's stagger, which can be any of three, and the only reliable source is the VAT online account. Write down where each date came from. A calendar built from an assumed calendar quarter is wrong for two thirds of businesses.

2. **State which scheme the business is on, because it changes the entire shape of the year.** Standard quarterly returns give four submissions and four payments. Annual accounting gives one return "2 months after the end of your accounting period" plus instalments, either monthly at "10% of your estimated VAT bill" in months 4 to 12, or quarterly at "25%" in months 4, 7 and 10, with the balance due within two months of month 12. The scheme is available where "your estimated VAT taxable turnover is £1.35 million or less". A business on annual accounting has nine or three small dates and one large one that lands two months after everybody has stopped thinking about the year, and the calendar must show that balancing payment for what it is.

3. **Put a weekly set-aside figure against every payment date, worked from the last four returns.** Take the VAT paid on each of the last four returns, divide the largest by the number of weeks in the period, and name that as the weekly amount to move into a separate account. Show the four historic figures next to it so the owner can see the seasonality, because a December quarter and a February quarter are not the same number in hospitality and a flat set-aside will be short one quarter and idle another. This is the only number on the calendar that changes behaviour. Every other line tells the owner when; this one tells them how much, weekly, in advance.

4. **Read the current penalty points position off the business's own record and state the threshold.** The late submission system is points based: "For each return you submit late, you'll receive a penalty point until you reach the penalty point threshold", and at the threshold "you'll receive a £200 penalty. You'll also receive a further £200 penalty for each subsequent late submission while you're at the threshold." The thresholds are 2 points for annual returns, 4 for quarterly and 5 for monthly. Write the points held today, the threshold, and the number of late returns remaining before a charge. An owner who knows they are one late return from £200 behaves differently from one who does not know they hold any points at all.

5. **Give the route back to zero, with its dates, because points do expire.** All points are removed when the business does two things at once: completes a period of compliance submitting every return on time, and submits all outstanding returns for the previous 24 months. The period of compliance is 24 months for annual filers with 2 returns to make, 12 months for quarterly filers with 4 returns, and 6 months for monthly filers with 6 returns. Individual points also expire: where the return deadline is not the last day of a month, a point "expires on the last day of the month, 24 months after this", and where it is the last day of a month, 25 months. Put the clear-by date on the calendar. Compliance with a visible finishing line is a different proposition from compliance in the abstract.

6. **Cost the three late payment thresholds on the business's own average VAT bill, in pounds.** There is no penalty at all where payment is up to 15 days overdue. Between 16 and 30 days, "The first late payment penalty is calculated at 3% on the VAT you owe at day 15." At 31 days or more it becomes "3% of what was outstanding at day 15 plus 3% of what is still outstanding at day 30", and on top of that the second penalty runs "at a daily rate of 10% per year on the outstanding balance", charged every day from day 31 until it is paid. Work all three on the business's own average liability and show the pounds. The step from day 15 to day 16 is the one worth seeing as a number, because it is the only cliff edge in the system and it is entirely avoidable.

7. **Add late payment interest as a separate line, because it is not a penalty and it starts immediately.** Interest "is charged from the first day that the payment is overdue until the day it's paid in full", and "It's calculated at the Bank of England base rate plus 4%." It runs from day one, including through the fifteen day window where no penalty applies. Read the current rate on the day the calendar is built, record the date it was read, and show the daily interest on the average liability so the owner can see what a fortnight's delay costs even in the penalty-free zone. Then note that a Time to Pay arrangement agreed with HMRC "can mean lower, or no, late payment penalties", and that the time to ask is before the due date rather than after the letter.

8. **Check the record keeping obligations that sit under the dates, because a missed return is often a missed record.** Every VAT registered business must keep digital records and file through compatible software. A business on a retail scheme "must keep a digital record of your daily gross takings (DGT)". The transfer of data between programs must be a digital link, and cutting and pasting is not one. Records generally must be kept "for at least 6 years". Put each of these on the calendar as a standing item with a named owner, because the business that keys its figures by hand the night before the deadline is the business that files late, and the two failures have one cause.

9. **Add the registration and threshold checks, and date them.** Registration is required where "your total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000", and separately where you expect it to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days. The twelve month test is a rolling one, so it needs checking monthly rather than annually, and the deadline is tight: "You have to register within 30 days of the end of the month when you went over the threshold." For a business near the line, put a monthly rolling turnover check on the calendar with a date and a name. Then finish the document with the build date, the date each rule was read, and a one line instruction to rebuild it when the scheme, the stagger or the turnover changes.

## Then it checks

1. Every period on the calendar carries a submission date and a payment date, and each is sourced from the business's VAT online account or its scheme, with the source named beside it.
2. The scheme is stated, and the number and shape of the dates match that scheme, with an annual accounting calendar showing its instalments and its balancing payment separately.
3. A weekly set-aside figure appears against every payment date, worked from the last four returns, with those four figures shown.
4. The points held today, the threshold for the filing frequency, and the number of late returns before a £200 charge are all stated as figures, and the clear-by date is a real date.
5. The three late payment thresholds are costed in pounds on the business's own average liability, and late payment interest is shown separately with the base rate used and the date it was read.
6. Nothing in the document calculates the VAT due, states what is reclaimable, or tells the owner whether a scheme should be joined or left.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is. A Time to Pay request goes to HMRC over the owner's name and the owner makes the call.
- Never file a return, never submit anything to HMRC, and never connect to the VAT account. This produces a calendar and a costing.
- Never calculate the VAT due, never state what input tax can be reclaimed, and never advise on the liability of any supply. Hospitality carries genuinely difficult liability questions, eating in against taking away among them, and they are for the owner's accountant.
- Never recommend joining or leaving a VAT scheme. The calendar shows the shape of the scheme the business is on and the shape of an alternative if asked, and the decision goes to the accountant.
- Refuse to quote a penalty rate, an interest rate or a threshold from memory or from an earlier version of this calendar. Every figure is read from the GOV.UK page on the day, with the date recorded, because these rates have changed more than once and a stale figure will be believed.
- Never treat a rate read today as fixed for the year. The base rate moves, so the interest line carries the rate and its read date, and the calendar says to re-read it each quarter.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner's accountant to check before it is relied on. It gathers published HMRC deadlines and penalty rules and applies them to dates and figures the owner supplied. It is not tax advice, it is not a VAT calculation, and it does not confirm that the business is compliant.

## Built from
- GOV.UK, "Send a VAT Return: Deadlines", https://www.gov.uk/vat-returns/deadlines, no publication date shown on the page, read 16 September 2026: the one calendar month and 7 days rule and the point that the money must reach HMRC by the same date, in step 1.
- GOV.UK, "VAT Annual Accounting Scheme" and "VAT Annual Accounting Scheme: Return and payment deadlines", https://www.gov.uk/vat-annual-accounting-scheme and https://www.gov.uk/vat-annual-accounting-scheme/return-and-payment-deadlines, no publication date shown on either page, read 16 September 2026: the £1.35 million entry limit, the 10 per cent monthly and 25 per cent quarterly instalments and the two month return and balancing payment rule, all in step 2.
- GOV.UK, "Penalty points and penalties if you submit your VAT Return late", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/penalty-points-and-penalties-if-you-submit-your-vat-return-late, published 4 January 2023, last updated 1 March 2023, read 16 September 2026: the points mechanism, the £200 charge at the threshold and the thresholds of 2, 4 and 5 points, in step 4.
- GOV.UK, "Remove penalty points you've received after submitting your VAT Return late", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remove-penalty-points-youve-received-after-submitting-your-vat-return-late, published 4 January 2023, last updated 15 February 2023, read 16 September 2026: the periods of compliance of 24, 12 and 6 months, the requirement to submit all outstanding returns for the previous 24 months, and the 24 and 25 month expiry of individual points, in step 5.
- GOV.UK, "How late payment penalties work if you pay VAT late", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-late-payment-penalties-work-if-you-pay-vat-late, published 4 January 2023, last updated 10 July 2025, read 16 September 2026: the 15 day grace period, the 3 per cent first penalty at day 15 and again at day 30, the 10 per cent annualised second penalty from day 31, and the Time to Pay point, in steps 6 and 7.
- GOV.UK, "Late payment interest if you do not pay VAT or penalties on time", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/late-payment-interest-if-you-do-not-pay-vat-or-penalties-on-time, published 4 January 2023, last updated 6 February 2026, read 16 September 2026: interest from the first day overdue at the Bank of England base rate plus 4 per cent, which is the separate line in step 7.
- HMRC, "Making Tax Digital for VAT (VAT Notice 700/22)", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-70022-making-tax-digital-for-vat/vat-notice-70022-making-tax-digital-for-vat, published 1 April 2022, read 16 September 2026, and "Keeping VAT records (VAT Notice 700/21)", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-70021-keeping-vat-records/vat-notice-70021-keeping-vat-records, published 26 September 2013, last updated 18 March 2024, read 16 September 2026: the digital records and daily gross takings requirements, the digital link definition excluding cut and paste, and the six year retention rule, all in step 8.
- GOV.UK, "Register for VAT", https://www.gov.uk/register-for-vat, no publication date shown on the page, read 16 September 2026: the £90,000 rolling twelve month threshold, the 30 day expectation test and the 30 day registration deadline, in step 9.

# vat-calendar

## You are given
One UK hospitality business. Its VAT registration number, the effective date of registration, and the accounting period end dates for the next twelve months exactly as they appear in the business's VAT online account, with a screenshot or export showing where they came from. The scheme in use, which is exactly one of `standard quarterly`, `standard monthly`, `annual accounting monthly instalments`, `annual accounting quarterly instalments`. The last four submitted returns with the period, the box 5 figure paid, the date submitted and the date paid. Every penalty notice or penalty point notification received, as supplied files, with the date and the period each relates to. The Bank of England base rate as a figure with the date Claude read it. The current late payment penalty and interest figures as Claude read them today, each with the GOV.UK page they came from and the date read. The names of the people responsible for filing, for paying and for the daily records. And the business's turnover for each of the last twelve months where it is near the registration threshold.

## Produce
Write into a `./vat-calendar-output/` folder:

1. `calendar.csv` with these columns in this order: `period_ref`, `period_start`, `period_end`, `obligation_type`, `due_date`, `source_of_date`, `responsible_name`, `estimated_amount_gbp`, `basis_of_estimate`. `obligation_type` is exactly one of `return submission`, `balancing payment`, `instalment payment`, `standing record check`, `rolling turnover check`. `source_of_date` is exactly one of `vat online account`, `one month and 7 days rule`, `annual accounting scheme rule`, `owner stated`. One row per obligation, ordered by `due_date`.
2. `set-aside.csv` with columns: `period_ref`, `payment_due_date`, `weeks_in_period`, `return_1_paid_gbp`, `return_2_paid_gbp`, `return_3_paid_gbp`, `return_4_paid_gbp`, `highest_of_four_gbp`, `weekly_set_aside_gbp`, `total_by_due_date_gbp`. The weekly figure is the highest of the four divided by the weeks in the period, rounded up to the nearest pound.
3. `points-position.csv` with columns: `points_held`, `filing_frequency`, `threshold_points`, `late_returns_before_charge`, `charge_at_threshold_gbp`, `period_of_compliance_months`, `returns_to_make_in_period`, `compliance_start_date`, `clear_by_date`, `outstanding_returns_last_24_months`. One row. Every figure traced to a supplied notice or to the GOV.UK page named in the return note.
4. `points-detail.csv` with columns: `point_ref`, `period`, `return_due_date`, `submitted_on`, `days_late`, `due_date_is_last_day_of_month`, `point_expires_on`. `point_expires_on` is the last day of the month 24 months after the due date, or 25 months where `due_date_is_last_day_of_month` is `yes`.
5. `lateness-cost.csv` with columns: `scenario`, `days_late`, `first_penalty_percent`, `first_penalty_gbp`, `second_penalty_annual_percent`, `second_penalty_gbp`, `interest_rate_percent`, `interest_gbp`, `total_cost_gbp`. `scenario` is exactly one of `1 to 15 days`, `16 to 30 days`, `31 days`, `60 days`, `90 days`. Calculated on the highest of the last four returns and stated as such.
6. `standing-items.csv` with columns: `item`, `frequency`, `responsible_name`, `evidence_required`, `last_confirmed_on`. `item` is exactly one of `digital records kept in compatible software`, `daily gross takings recorded digitally`, `digital link from records to return with no cut and paste`, `records retained for 6 years`, `rolling 12 month turnover checked against the registration threshold`.
7. `rates-read.csv` with columns: `rate_name`, `value`, `gov_uk_url`, `read_on_date`. One row for every rate or threshold used anywhere in the output, including the registration threshold, the annual accounting limit, the penalty percentages, the £200 charge, the point thresholds and the base rate.
8. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any period whose dates came from `owner stated` with no VAT account evidence; any of the last four returns missing; any penalty notice with no matching row in `points-detail.csv`; any obligation with no responsible name; any standing item never confirmed; any rate in the output with no row in `rates-read.csv`; any month in the rolling turnover check within ten per cent of the registration threshold; and any figure that could not be traced to a supplied document.

## Rules
- Codex dates, calculates, counts and records. It never calculates the VAT due on any supply, never states what input tax is reclaimable, never recommends a scheme and never decides whether a penalty was correctly charged.
- Never write a rate, a percentage or a threshold that has no row in `rates-read.csv` with a URL and a read date. A figure without a source is a `gaps.md` item and is left blank.
- Never derive a period end date from an assumed calendar quarter. Where the VAT account evidence is missing, the row is written with `source_of_date` set to `owner stated` and listed in `gaps.md`.
- Never round a set-aside figure down, and never average the four returns. The highest of the four is the basis, because a business that saves the average is short in its busiest quarter.
- Never present the lateness cost as a prediction or a likelihood. It is the arithmetic on stated rates applied to a stated liability, labelled as such.
- Never file, submit, pay, or connect to HMRC, an accounting package or a bank.
- Treat the fifteen day window as penalty-free for penalties only. Interest runs from day one in every scenario row, including `1 to 15 days`.
- Use British English, GBP with the pound sign, and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner's accountant to check before it is relied on. It applies published HMRC deadlines and penalty rules to supplied dates and figures, and is not tax advice, a VAT calculation or confirmation that the business is compliant.

## Return
The absolute path of every file written and the row count of each, the scheme recorded, the number of submission and payment obligations in the twelve months with the first and last dates, the weekly set-aside figure for each payment date and the four returns it was worked from, the points held against the threshold and the number of late returns before a charge, the clear-by date, the expiry date of each individual point, the total cost in pounds at each of the five lateness scenarios, every rate used with its URL and read date, the standing items with no confirmation date, any month within ten per cent of the registration threshold, and the `gaps.md` item count.