Short on the quarter's VAT? Price the fix

VAT is due one month and seven days after the quarter ends, whether or not your customers have paid you yet. If the bank balance is short of what's owed, this tool prices covering the shortfall with a Credicorp Business Loan and spreading the repayment across the following weeks — so HMRC is paid on time and the cost of doing it is a number you chose in advance, not a penalty you discover afterwards.

Free tool

Example. Illustrative figures from our published pricing — not an offer, and not tax advice. Enter the part of the bill you are short, not the whole return.

Representative example: borrow £200 for 30 days, repay £220. An early-settlement charge may apply.

VAT shortfall to cover The gap between what HMRC is due and what's in the account — facilities run within our published range, and the field clamps to it.

Days to clear it Our longest term roughly matches one VAT quarter — clear this bill before the next one lands.

Payment cadence

Shortfall covered: £500
Cost of spreading it: £110
Total repayable: £610
You repay: 12 payments of £50.83
Clear by: 24 Oct 2026

Why directors spread a VAT bill

HMRC charges late-payment interest daily from the first day a VAT bill is overdue, and separate late-payment penalties step up the longer it stays unpaid. The meter runs until the day you settle.
A missed VAT payment can also affect Time to Pay negotiations and, for regulated or tendering businesses, tax-compliance declarations. Paying on time keeps the record clean.
Borrowing against the shortfall converts an open-ended, escalating liability into a fixed weekly payment with a known total — and our total cost is capped at 100% of the amount borrowed, whatever happens.
HMRC's own Time to Pay arrangement can be the better answer, particularly for larger bills — it's worth a call to them first. This tool prices the alternative so you compare from a position of knowledge.

Questions directors ask

My VAT bill is bigger than your maximum facility. Any point?: Often, yes. HMRC interest and penalties apply to the unpaid balance, so paying most of a bill on time and borrowing to close the last few hundred pounds still shrinks what the meter runs on. For a shortfall well beyond our range, ask HMRC about Time to Pay before it falls due — arrangements made before the deadline are treated more favourably.
Is borrowing to pay VAT a red flag?: A one-off timing gap — a big customer paying just after the deadline — is ordinary working-capital management, and short-term facilities exist for exactly this. A shortfall every single quarter is different: that's a margin or pricing problem, and borrowing quarterly only defers it.
Why does the default term match a VAT quarter?: Because the discipline that makes this work is being clear before the next bill lands. Clear one quarter's shortfall inside that quarter, because stretching it over several just stacks liabilities on top of each other.

Deadline's not moving

Apply in minutes — same-day funding on approval means even a due-this-week bill is coverable. Lending is to the company.

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