VAT quarters get stressful when the review is left to the last day. The fix is a short, repeatable routine you run in the final week — so submission day is a formality, not a scramble.
Reconcile the control accounts first
Before you look at the return, make sure the VAT control and VAT liability accounts agree to what you expect. If the bank is fully reconciled and the control accounts tie out, most of the work is already done.
- Bank reconciled to the last day of the quarter
- VAT control account agrees to the draft return
- Prior-quarter payment or refund cleared correctly
Review the exceptions
Run the transactions by tax rate and scan for anything that looks wrong: standard-rated costs coded as zero-rated, reverse-charge entries, one-off large invoices, and anything posted to the wrong period.
Submit via MTD and record it
File through your MTD-compatible software, save the receipt, and post the liability so next quarter starts clean. Diarise the payment date so it is never late.
Takeaway: a 30-minute checklist in the last week of the quarter removes almost all of the VAT-return stress.
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