For a small VAT-registered limited company, expect to pay somewhere between £420 and £1,650 a year plus VAT to have your VAT returns handled by an accountant. Every quote in the table below is on that same plus-VAT basis, so the range is a like-for-like one.
That is a four-fold range, and the spread is not random. It tracks how much of the work you are handing over — whether VAT returns are an add-on to an accounts package or part of a full outsourced finance function, how many transactions you push through each month, and whether anyone else has to clean up your bookkeeping first.
Here is what the UK market actually charges, what moves the number, and what you should expect for the fee.
What VAT return filing costs in the UK
All figures below were checked against provider pricing pages on 20 August 2026, with Mazuma re-verified on 21 August 2026. Watch the VAT basis — mixing an inclusive figure with an exclusive one makes a comparison meaningless, and a provider can use different bases on different pages. Every monthly subscription below is quoted plus VAT.
| Provider | Price | VAT basis | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Accountancy Partnership | From £35 a month | Plus VAT | VAT returns as an add-on to an accountancy package — the quote also includes accounts and tax returns |
| Taxfix (limited company, not VAT registered) | £329 | Plus VAT | Annual accounts and tax return |
| Taxfix (limited company, VAT registered, under £200k) | £419 | Plus VAT | Annual accounts, tax return and VAT |
| Sleek Basic | From £50 a month | Plus VAT | Package includes VAT return filing |
| Osome Operate | From £71 a month | Plus VAT | £850 a year, billed annually |
| Gorilla | £125 a month | Plus VAT | £1,500 a year, flat fee |
| Osome Grow | From £137 a month | Plus VAT | £1,644 a year |
| Mazuma | From £38 a month | Plus VAT | Package includes VAT return filing; VAT returns are a £20 a month extra |
Two things stand out. First, almost nobody sells VAT return filing as a standalone product — it is priced as a component of a wider service, and the standalone-looking monthly figures assume you are buying accounts and tax returns too. Second, the gap between the cheapest and most expensive is mostly about transaction volume and bookkeeping, not about the return itself.
The VAT registration surcharge nobody quotes upfront
Being VAT registered costs you more with your accountant, and one provider makes the increase unusually visible.
| Taxfix limited company package | Fee |
|---|---|
| Not VAT registered | £329 + VAT |
| VAT registered, turnover under £200,000 | £419 + VAT |
| Difference | £90 + VAT, a 27% increase |
That £90 buys four quarterly submissions, the digital record-keeping discipline that Making Tax Digital requires, and a set of VAT-coded books rather than a simple income-and-expenses summary. It is not unreasonable. But if you are budgeting from a pre-registration quote, expect roughly a quarter to be added the moment you register.
Most firms fold the same increase into a higher monthly figure without naming it.
What actually drives your price
| Driver | Effect on fee |
|---|---|
| Turnover band | The most common pricing axis; nearly every fixed-fee firm steps its price at set turnover levels |
| Monthly transaction volume | The biggest single driver at the low end — 40 transactions a month and 400 are different jobs |
| VAT registration itself | Around a 25% uplift on an equivalent non-registered package |
| Sector complexity | E-commerce, multi-currency, partial exemption, margin schemes and the construction domestic reverse charge all cost more |
| Number of directors | Each director needing a Self Assessment return adds to the package price |
| Payroll headcount | Priced separately, usually per employee per month |
| Backlog | The single most expensive surprise |
Backlog pricing is worth knowing about before you ask for a quote. Osome charges around £850 a year for historical work. Sleek charges around £750 per financial year backdated. If you are three quarters behind on VAT, that is not folded into the monthly fee — it is a separate job, priced separately, and it is the reason “£38 a month” quotes turn into four-figure onboarding invoices.
DIY, software, or an accountant
Making Tax Digital removed the free route. Every VAT-registered business must keep digital records and file through compatible software, so there is no longer a browser form to type numbers into.
| Route | Typical cost | Realistic for |
|---|---|---|
| Bridging or accounting software, self-filed | Xero from £16 a month excluding VAT; FreeAgent £33 a month excluding VAT | Simple, standard-rated businesses with low volume and confident bookkeeping |
| Software plus an accountant reviewing | Software cost plus the fees above | Most small VAT-registered companies |
| Full outsourced bookkeeping and VAT | Upper end of the range above | Businesses with volume, complexity, or no internal finance time |
FreeAgent is free for NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank business account holders. If you bank with any of them and your affairs are simple, that removes the software cost entirely.
Self-filing is genuinely viable for a straightforward business. It stops being viable the moment you have partial exemption, imports, a margin scheme, the construction reverse charge, or a scheme decision to make — because the cost of getting one of those wrong across four quarters dwarfs the fee you saved.
What you should get for the fee
A VAT return service worth paying for includes more than pressing submit.
- Bookkeeping reviewed, not just accepted — coding errors are where most VAT errors start
- The right rate applied to each sale and purchase, including zero-rated, reduced-rated and exempt items
- Input VAT checked against valid VAT invoices, since a reclaim without one is a reclaim HMRC can refuse
- A scheme review — the Flat Rate Scheme, Cash Accounting and Annual Accounting all change your position, and the limited cost business rule can flip the answer from one quarter to the next
- Filing through MTD-compatible software with digital links preserved
- A deadline calendar, because the filing and payment deadline is one calendar month and 7 days after each quarter ends
- A named person who reviews the return before it goes to HMRC
What is usually not included
Ask about these before you sign, because they are commonly excluded:
- historical or catch-up work, which is almost always priced separately
- VAT registration or deregistration applications
- HMRC enquiries and compliance checks, though some providers include representation
- error correction on returns filed before you engaged the firm
- one-off advice on land and property, transfers of a going concern, or international supplies
Red flags in a quote
A price with no turnover or transaction band attached. It will be revised upward once someone sees your bank feed.
A monthly figure that does not say whether VAT returns are included. They frequently are not.
A quote that mixes inclusive and exclusive figures. The trap is real, and Mazuma is the clearest illustration of how it happens: its monthly subscriptions are quoted plus VAT on its pricing page, while its one-off accounts packages are quoted inclusive of VAT on a different page. Read one as the other and a £575 inclusive package gets budgeted as £575 plus VAT — £690, a £115 error on a single line. Take the basis from the page the price is printed on, not from what the provider did elsewhere.
No named reviewer. Anyone can submit a return. The value is in someone qualified checking it first.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an accountant charge for a VAT return?
Most UK providers price VAT returns as part of a package rather than per return. As an add-on to an accountancy package, prices start from around £35 a month plus VAT. Full packages that cover VAT return filing run from roughly £50 to £137 a month plus VAT, depending on turnover and transaction volume.
Is it cheaper to file VAT returns myself?
On paper, yes. Accounting software starts at around £16 a month excluding VAT, and FreeAgent is free for NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank business account holders. It stops being cheaper as soon as you have partial exemption, imports, a margin scheme or the construction reverse charge, where a single misapplied rule across four quarters costs more than a year of fees.
Why does my accountant charge more now I am VAT registered?
Registration means four extra submissions a year, digital record-keeping under Making Tax Digital, and every transaction coded to a VAT rate rather than lumped together. One published example is Taxfix, where the limited company fee rises from £329 plus VAT to £419 plus VAT — a 27% increase for VAT registration alone.
Does the fee cover HMRC penalties if a return is late?
Not automatically. Late submission penalty points and the £200 penalty at the threshold sit with the business, not the agent. Check what your engagement letter says about deadlines, who is responsible for providing records by when, and whether the firm covers representation in a compliance check.
What does SmartFiling charge for VAT returns?
SmartFiling works on a fixed fee for MTD VAT filing, quoted before any work starts, with no hourly billing and no surprise invoices.
Getting a fixed price
The cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest outcome. What costs money is a backlog nobody priced, a scheme nobody reviewed, and a reclaim nobody checked against a valid invoice.
SmartFiling handles MTD VAT filing for a fixed fee, quoted upfront and working directly from Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent. Every return is reviewed by an ICAEW Chartered Accountant before submission, and everything is handled online.
