You used to hold the VAT, and then you did not

Reverse Charge Cash Flow Calculator

Before March 2021 you held the VAT until the return fell due. On £25,000 a month that was about £13,700 of working capital.

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Reverse Charge Cash Flow Calculator

Before March 2021 you collected the VAT on every invoice and held it until the return fell due. It was never your money, but while it sat there it did the job of an overdraft, for nothing.

Your sales
£
Excluding VAT. The part now reverse charged.
%
£
Used to show the loss in weeks of trading.
Your VAT returns
3 for quarterly, 1 for monthly.
One month and seven days after the period ends is about 1.2.
Working capital that stopped arriving

-

VAT arising each month
Average months you held it
As weeks of running costs
As a share of a year's sales

On monthly returns you would hold
Difference

What to do about it

If your sales are mostly reverse charged and you still pay VAT on materials, you are probably in a repayment position every quarter. Monthly returns get that money back three times as often.

The average balance is the VAT arising each month multiplied by half the return period plus the payment lag. On quarterly returns that is about 2.7 months of VAT.

If you have not repriced since March 2021, your quotes are still assuming working capital that is no longer there.

The same sum, in a workbook

With the monthly against quarterly comparison and the loss expressed in weeks of running costs.

Download the workbook Free Excel workbook, no signup. Current for 2026/27.

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