As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly check your UK VAT return for errors.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   Someone with a licence or accountable authority has to sign this before it counts.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, power-user skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the VAT return for the relevant period in your accounting software or HMRC record, and copy the figures for boxes 1 to 9.
   2. Export the sales ledger, purchase ledger, VAT transaction report and VAT account for the same period, including invoice dates, VAT amounts, VAT codes and credit notes.
   3. Gather records for imports, exports, reverse-charge transactions, partial exemption, private use and manual adjustments, and remove unnecessary personal data before sharing anything.
   4. Paste the return figures and supporting records into a chatbot with the prompt above, asking it to identify arithmetic mismatches, missing entries and transactions needing specialist confirmation.
   5. Compare each flagged transaction with the original VAT invoice, credit note, import document or other source record, and mark whether the flag is supported or spurious.
   6. Reconcile the confirmed figures back to the accounting software and the VAT return boxes, then ask a UK VAT accountant to resolve any treatment question or unexplained difference before submission.
   7. Correct the accounting records and return only after the accountant confirms the treatment, then submit the VAT return through the normal HMRC-approved process.

   Prompt

   Check the UK VAT return and supporting records below for possible errors. This is a review, not a submission, and not professional advice.
   
   Return period: [VAT period]
   VAT scheme and accounting basis: [for example, standard, cash accounting or flat rate]
   VAT return boxes and figures:
   [Paste the figures for boxes 1 to 9]
   
   Supporting sales records:
   [Paste or attach the sales ledger, VAT invoices, credit notes and summary totals]
   
   Supporting purchase and expense records:
   [Paste or attach the purchase ledger, VAT invoices, credit notes and summary totals]
   
   Adjustments, imports, exports, reverse-charge transactions, partial exemption or unusual items:
   [Describe or paste the relevant records]
   
   Check the following:
   1. Recalculate the box totals and show the calculation.
   2. Reconcile the return to the sales and purchase records.
   3. Identify duplicated, missing or contradictory transactions.
   4. Flag transactions whose VAT treatment may be wrong or cannot be established from the evidence.
   5. Check that credit notes, imports, exports, reverse charge, private use and other adjustments have not been omitted where relevant.
   6. Separate arithmetic or record-matching errors from questions requiring a UK VAT accountant.
   
   For every issue, give the source transaction or figure, the affected VAT box, the reason it is flagged, the evidence needed to resolve it and the correction to investigate. Do not invent figures, VAT rates, transactions or facts. Do not decide that a transaction is recoverable or chargeable where the records are insufficient. End with a list of items a UK VAT accountant should confirm before the return is submitted. Do not file or submit anything.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.