All remaining VAT businesses registered before 1 April 2010 with an annual turnover of less than £100,000 will have to submit their returns online and pay electronically.

What action is required now?

You need to sign up for VAT online services. To do this, you’ll need to input your effective date of VAT registration. You can find this on your VAT4 Certificate of VAT registration HMRC sent when the business registered for VAT. If you’ve misplaced the VAT4, you can request another via the ‘VAT Helpline’ link on the ‘Contact us’ page on the HMRC website.

Contact HMRC

It’s easy to sign up but if you do need help, the HMRC website has guides for beginners, giving information on signing up for VAT and completing your returns online. There’s also an online demo available, to view what the online service looks like.

You’ll also need to decide which electronic payment method best suits your business and set it up (there’s lots of methods to choose from). Please note that HMRC doesn’t currently receive or make payments using the Faster Payments Service offered by some banks

How to pay VAT

If you do not have a computer or internet connection, you are still required to submit your returns online from April 2012. You need to start thinking now about the options available. You could ask family or friends if you could use their computer or use the services of an accountant or bookkeeper. Alternatively, you could use a computer in a public library – if you do this, please ask the library staff to give you the guidance HMRC has provided on using public computers securely and (if you need them) the guides to signing up and completing your return online.

After signing up, HMRC recommend that you set up an email address on the ‘At a Glance’ page, to receive email alerts to remind you each time a return is due.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/vat-online/moving.htm#5