The VAT registration threshold has been £90,000 since 1 April 2024, measured on a rolling 12-month basis. You must register within 30 days of the end of the month you go over it, or if you expect to exceed it in the next 30 days alone. The deregistration threshold is £88,000. Not tax advice.
The TradePlanr app puts this calculator — plus gas & electrical certificates, quoting, invoicing and job sign-offs — on your phone, working even with no signal. Free to start — works in your browser, no download needed.
This calculator shows how much headroom you have before you must register for VAT. Enter your rolling 12-month turnover and, optionally, your recent monthly turnover, and it tells you how far you are below the £90,000 threshold and roughly how long that headroom lasts.
It is for growing trade businesses watching the VAT line. Registration is not something you choose once a year — the test is a rolling one, checked every month, and crossing it triggers a tight 30-day deadline. Knowing where you stand lets you plan for it rather than trip over it.
The threshold has been £90,000 since April 2024. The calculator measures your turnover against it, flags when you are over, and — if you give it a monthly figure — estimates how many months of headroom remain at your current rate.
Headroom = £90,000 − rolling 12-month turnover; Months of headroom ≈ headroom ÷ recent monthly turnover
The VAT test looks at your taxable turnover over any rolling 12-month period, not your accounting year. Headroom is simply the threshold minus that rolling total. Dividing the headroom by your recent monthly turnover gives a rough idea of how many months you have before the rolling figure reaches £90,000, assuming trade stays roughly level.
Add up your VAT-taxable turnover for the last 12 months — a rolling total, not your financial year. This is the figure HMRC's registration test actually uses.
Optionally enter what you are currently turning over in a typical month. The calculator uses it to estimate how quickly your rolling total is climbing toward the threshold.
The registration threshold defaults to £90,000. It has been at this level since 1 April 2024; leave it unless you are checking a historic period.
The calculator shows how far you are below the threshold, or how far over, and roughly how many months of headroom you have left at your current monthly rate.
The test is rolling, not annual. At the end of every month you check your turnover for the previous 12 months. If it has gone over £90,000 you must register within 30 days of the end of that month, with registration effective from the first of the following month. There is also a forward test: if you expect to exceed £90,000 in the next 30 days alone, you must register immediately.
Crossing the threshold changes your pricing, not just your paperwork. Domestic customers cannot reclaim VAT, so adding 20% either eats your margin or raises your price against unregistered competitors. Many trades manage growth deliberately around the threshold, or register voluntarily to reclaim input VAT — weigh it up before you cross rather than after.
Once registered, you stay registered until your turnover falls below the £88,000 deregistration threshold. This is a guide to help you plan; confirm the current thresholds and your obligations with HMRC or your accountant, as the rules on what counts as taxable turnover have detail this tool does not model.
The VAT registration threshold has been £90,000 since 1 April 2024, measured on a rolling 12-month basis. You must register within 30 days of the end of the month you go over it, or if you expect to exceed it in the next 30 days alone. The deregistration threshold is £88,000. Not tax advice.
£90,000 of VAT-taxable turnover on a rolling 12-month basis. It rose from £85,000 to £90,000 on 1 April 2024. You must register if your turnover over the previous 12 months exceeds it, or if you expect to exceed it in the next 30 days on its own.
No — it is a rolling 12-month test. At the end of each month you look back over the previous 12 months, not your accounting year. This catches people out, because a busy stretch can push you over mid-year even if your annual accounts would look under the line.
You must register within 30 days of the end of the month in which you went over the threshold, and your registration takes effect from the first day of the month after that. Miss the deadline and HMRC can charge a penalty and still demand the VAT you should have collected.
Sometimes. Voluntary registration lets you reclaim VAT on materials and tools, which can pay off for trades with high material spend or mainly commercial customers who can reclaim the VAT you charge. For trades working mostly for households it usually raises your prices, so it is a judgement call — model both before deciding.
TradePlanr Agency builds custom-coded, SEO-optimised websites and runs Google Ads for UK trades — from £375, by the team behind TradePlanr.
Explore TradePlanr Agency