UK VAT registration threshold checker

The two tests

You must register for VAT if either of these is true.

Looking back. Your taxable turnover for the last 12 months is over £90,000. Check at the end of every month. If you go over, register within 30 days of the end of that month. You are VAT registered from the first day of the second month after you went over.

Looking forward. You expect your taxable turnover in the next 30 days alone to go over £90,000. Register by the end of those 30 days. You are registered from the date you realised.

Example

A decorator's rolling 12 month turnover reaches £91,200 at the end of July 2026.

From 1 September they must charge VAT on every taxable sale, even if HMRC has not sent the VAT number yet. Until it arrives they can raise invoices without VAT and reissue them once registered, or build the VAT into the price.

What counts as taxable turnover

• Include: sales that would be standard rated, reduced rated or zero rated, including zero rated sales like most food and children's clothes.
• Leave out: exempt sales (most insurance, finance, some education and health), sales outside the scope of UK VAT, and the sale of capital assets you used in the business.

A one-off temporary spike may not mean you need to register. If you go over but expect the next 12 months to be under £88,000, you can ask HMRC for an exception.

Registering below the threshold

You can register voluntarily at any turnover. It can make sense if your customers are VAT-registered businesses (they reclaim the VAT you charge) or if you buy a lot of standard rated goods and want the VAT back. It rarely makes sense if you sell mainly to the public, because your prices go up by 20% or your margin goes down by the same.

Late registration

If you register late, HMRC backdates your registration to when it should have started. You owe the VAT you should have charged on every sale since then, whether or not you collected it, plus a penalty based on how late you were and whether it was deliberate.