When to deregister for VAT

My company ceased trading as at the end of March '24. Gov.uk states that I must deregister within 30 days. But, my current VAT reporting period doesn't end until the end of April. In the past, the resultant DD from HMRC hasn't been processed 'til June. Also, I will have an accountant's invoice for closing my company popping up soon which is Vatable So I'm confused. Please advise me whether I deregister now (within the 30 days and before my final submission) or after my final VAT return has been submitted or after my last VAT bill has been finalised & paid ? Thank you

Hi,

If you need to cancel your VAT registrations because you have ceased making taxable supplies then you should let us know within 30 says of this happening.
If you send in your cancellation form then the quarterly period up until the end of April will be the last one you need to complete.
You can recover your accountant's invoice on your final return  or if the invoice is received after you send in your final return then you can complete a VAT 427 form to recover this.
You can see the guidance here:

What will happen when you apply to cancel your registration

Reclaiming VAT after your VAT registration was cancelled

Thank you.

Thank you for this - sorry it's taken so long to reply. I have successfully deregistered but I have a further issue. My final VAT return stated due date of June 19th (the DD date) but I wanted to pay this off sooner. On 24th April I paid my VAT due by BACS transfer from my bank account. On 26th April I signed into my VAT account and confirmed that this had been received and I owed nothing to HMRC. I also intended to cancel HMRC direct debit via Manage your Direct Debit but I got this message "You cannot use the VAT Online Direct Debit service because your VAT registration has been cancelled" Can you please confirm that this means that HMRC has cancelled my direct debit and I've nothing to be concerned about? Thanks Barry

Hi,

We would recommend to speak to your bank to confirm the Direct Debit has been cancelled and to contact our VAT team so we can check your account.

VAT: general enquiries 

Thank you.