What is the VAT registration threshold in 2026?

The UK VAT registration threshold is £90,000 of taxable turnover in any rolling 12-month period. It has been £90,000 since 1 April 2024. The deregistration threshold is £88,000.

Does the VAT threshold reset each tax year?

No. The threshold is measured on a rolling 12-month basis, checked at the end of every calendar month by looking back over the previous 12 months. It does not reset on 5 April or at your financial year-end.

When do I have to register for VAT after crossing the threshold?

If your rolling 12-month taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 at the end of any month, you must notify HMRC within 30 days of the end of that month. Your effective registration date is the first day of the second month after you went over. You must also register if you expect to exceed £90,000 in the next 30 days alone.

VAT Threshold Calculator UK 2026

How the VAT threshold actually works

This is the part that catches most growing businesses out: the £90,000 VAT registration threshold is not measured against your tax year. It's measured on a rolling 12-month basis, checked at the end of every single month by looking back over the previous twelve.

So there's no fresh start in April. A strong autumn followed by a strong spring can tip you over the threshold in, say, June, without anything resetting to save you. If you only look at your numbers once a year at year-end, you can sail past £90,000 months earlier and not realise.

The expensive part: if you cross the threshold and don't spot it, HMRC treats you as registered from the date you should have been. You then owe VAT on every sale from that point, whether or not you actually charged your customers VAT. If you didn't charge it, it comes out of your own pocket.

When you have to register

There are two triggers, and you only need one of them to apply:

The backward look: at the end of any month, your taxable turnover for the previous 12 months goes over £90,000. You must notify HMRC within 30 days of the end of that month, and you're registered from the first day of the second month after you went over.
The forward look: you expect your taxable turnover to exceed £90,000 in the next 30 days alone, for example after landing one large contract. Here you must register immediately.

What counts as "taxable turnover"

Taxable turnover is the total of everything you sell that isn't VAT-exempt, including standard-rated, reduced-rated and zero-rated sales. It does not include VAT-exempt income (such as certain financial or insurance services) or one-off sales of business assets like a vehicle or equipment.

One common and costly misconception: if you run two different trades under one person or one company, they don't each get their own £90,000 allowance. The business or individual is the taxable entity, so it's the combined turnover that counts toward the threshold.

The current figures (2026)

Registration threshold: £90,000 of rolling 12-month taxable turnover. Unchanged since 1 April 2024.
Deregistration threshold: £88,000. If your turnover falls below this and you expect it to stay there, you can apply to deregister.
Notification deadline: within 30 days of the end of the month you went over.

Should you register before you have to?

Sometimes voluntary registration makes sense before you hit £90,000, particularly if most of your customers are VAT-registered businesses who can reclaim the VAT, or if you have significant costs you'd like to reclaim VAT on. For businesses selling mainly to the public, it usually makes more sense to wait. It's genuinely a case-by-case decision, and the right answer depends on who your customers are and what your costs look like.

If you run a limited company, it's also worth seeing the bigger tax picture: our dividend and corporation tax calculator shows what your company profit becomes after corporation tax and dividend tax, all the way to your take-home pay.