Unprompted voluntary Disclosure - Payment Options

Hi,
I am looking to make an unprompted voluntary disclosure for tax periods where I noticed some errors in my VAT returns going back 3 years amounting to approx. 8k (no judgments please).
I am working PAYE at the moment and still registered for VAT as Self Employed but not technically trading, (I plan to start again in June).

I was hoping to make a Phased Payment Plan but think I might not qualify now. According the the Guidelines for Phased Payments it says "The Customer must demonstrate that the business is viable and has the capacity and commitment to meet all future tax payment obligations when due.". I am not technically trading now , so I based on the "Demonstrate the business is Viable" Part, I fear I won't qualify for that payment plan to pay back what I owe.

Does anyone know if revenue are flexible and possibly will put a different payment plan in place if I can't meet that criteria?
Who in revenue should I ask does anyone know?

Many thanks

All that those words mean in practice, is that similar to any other type of finance (i.e. a bank loan) you need to demonstrate that you'll have the means to pay the amount required over the period proposed.

If you've got a steady income indicating a capacity to pay within the standard period (not sure off the top of my head whether that's two or three years), you should be able to get something put in place.

That's brilliant, thank you so much for your reply!

Yes, the standard repayment period was 36 months, but due to the impact of Covid, they changed it to 60 months.

I would be hesitant to commit to an unprompted voluntary disclosure unless you're fully aware of the implications of it and have the benefit of independent professional advice.

Are you certain that the VAT return errors at the heart of the issue can't be validly resolved by self-correction?

T McGibney said:

I would be hesitant to commit to an unprompted voluntary disclosure unless you're fully aware of the implications of it and have the benefit of independent professional advice.

Are you certain that the VAT return errors at the heart of the issue can't be validly resolved by self-correction?

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AFAIK the period for self-correction for VAT ends at the Income Tax (or CT) filing date for the period that the relevant VAT return falls into.

So the OP may be able to self-correct for any periods in 2024 that are at issue, but 2021-2023 will require a qualifying disclosure.

torblednam said:

AFAIK the period for self-correction for VAT ends at the Income Tax (or CT) filing date for the period that the relevant VAT return falls into.

So the OP may be able to self-correct for any periods in 2024 that are at issue, but 2021-2023 will require a qualifying disclosure.

Click to expand...

That is probably true (I haven't checked) but the pertinent point here is that they need to be aware of the full implications of making an unprompted voluntary disclosure, and if there are any alternatives open to them.