The gap between incorporating and trading just got shorter — from 28 August 2026 TaxDigit is an affiliate partner of Revolut Business, so clients forming a UK company with us can apply for a business account using the very details we have just filed at Companies House. TaxDigit are chartered certified accountants in Surrey advising clients UK-wide, and this article sets out what the partnership covers, what the introductory offer includes, what it excludes, and how we are paid for making the introduction.

TaxDigit partners with Revolut Business from 28 August 2026 - form a UK company and open a business account, offer ends 31 December 2026 - TaxDigit accountants in Surrey

Why the Gap Between Incorporation and Banking Matters

Incorporation gives a company a legal identity. It does not give it anywhere to be paid. A limited company is a separate legal person from the people who own it, so its money has to be kept separate from theirs — and until there is an account in the company name, invoices cannot be settled and suppliers cannot be paid.

In practice this is where new companies lose weeks. Several high-street banks take a long time to onboard a business, and some decline outright where every director lives outside the UK. Founders then trade through a personal account, which creates director’s loan account entries that have to be unpicked at the year end, at their cost.

What the Partnership Gives TaxDigit Clients

A dedicated TaxDigit application page built by Revolut, rather than a generic sign-up route.
Multi-currency accounts in more than 25 currencies, exchanged at the interbank rate within plan limits.
UK account details plus IBAN and SWIFT, so overseas customers can pay without a correspondent bank in the way.
Physical and virtual cards for the whole team, with per-card limits and approval rules instead of one shared debit card.
Transfers to more than 150 destinations from the same account.
Direct connections to Xero, Sage, QuickBooks and more than 45 other tools, so the bank feed runs straight into the bookkeeping we already do for you.
An application that can be made the same day the company is incorporated, using consistent filed details.

The Introductory Offer — and Its Conditions

Sign up from the TaxDigit partner page before 31 December 2026, then add money to the new Business account, and a one-month promotional trial of the Basic, Grow or Scale plan is applied automatically. The conditions matter as much as the offer:

It is open to customers who are new to Revolut Business. An existing account holder gets nothing.
Subscription fees begin automatically when the trial month ends. You can cancel free of charge before it does.
Any cards you order, and their delivery, are charged separately.
Eligible plans and trial length can vary by offer, and Revolut’s fees, promotion terms and Business terms and conditions apply.

Who Benefits — and Who Should Still Pay Attention

The clearest beneficiaries are newly incorporated companies and overseas founders. Revolut Business accepts applications for UK-registered companies whose directors are based abroad, subject to its own onboarding checks — a meaningful difference from banks that require a UK branch visit. Approval remains Revolut’s decision, not ours, and we do not present it as a certainty.

Two groups should think harder. If you already hold a Revolut Business account, the offer does not apply to you. And if your plans depend on a lending relationship with a UK high-street bank, an e-money or app-based account may sit alongside that rather than replace it. We are affiliated with a number of UK providers and are not tied to any one of them.

What New Company Owners Should Do Now

Complete the incorporation and identity verification first — the application asks for a company number that has to exist.
Have the certificate of incorporation, director and PSC details and a UK registered office address to hand.
Write a clear description of what the business actually does. Vague answers slow applications far more than complicated ones.
Make sure the addresses on the application match what Companies House holds. Mismatches are the most common reason an application stalls.
Once the account is funded, ask us to connect the bank feed to your bookkeeping before the first quarter closes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I apply before my company is registered?

No. The application asks for your company number and registered details, so the company has to exist at Companies House first. In practice we incorporate the company and you apply the same day.

Can a director living outside the UK open a UK business account?

Revolut Business accepts applications for UK-registered companies with overseas directors, subject to its own identity and business checks. That is a genuine difference from several high-street banks, but approval is still Revolut’s decision.

Is TaxDigit paid for the introduction?

Yes. TaxDigit is an affiliate partner of Revolut and may receive a commission if you open and fund an account through our links. It costs you nothing extra and it does not change the fees you pay us. We disclose it because we are an ACCA firm and we think you are entitled to know when we have an interest in a recommendation. We are not a bank, we are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and we do not hold client money.

Will the account connect to my bookkeeping?

Yes. Revolut Business connects to Xero, Sage, QuickBooks and more than 45 other tools. Where we keep your books, we link the feed once and transactions flow through to your management accounts, VAT returns and year-end accounts without manual entry.

How TaxDigit Can Help

We handle the incorporation itself as a Companies House Authorised Corporate Service Provider — see our company formation and ID verification service — and we can start your UK company registration today. Our Revolut Business account guide sets out the application step by step, and our bookkeeping team connects the feed once the account is live. The full offer terms are on the TaxDigit partner page at Revolut.

Plan Ahead With TaxDigit

Forming a company and opening an account are one job, not two, and they are far easier done in the same week than three months apart. Call 01483 230 777, email info@taxdigit.co.uk or use our contact page for a confidential, no-obligation conversation about your formation and banking.

A five per cent rate falls to nil — from 1 October 2026 until 31 March 2027, VAT on qualifying supplies of domestic electricity in Great Britain drops from the 5% reduced rate to 0%, worth around £45 a year to a typical household and £850 million to the Exchequer in 2026-27. As chartered certified accountants in Surrey advising households, charities, care providers and owner-managed businesses across the UK, TaxDigit explains who actually qualifies — because this is not a households-only measure — and where the two dates create traps on either side of the relief.

VAT on qualifying domestic electricity cut from 5% to 0% from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, saving a typical household about £45 a year - TaxDigit accountants in Surrey

What the Reduced Rate Covers — and Why It Matters

VAT on fuel and power is not a single rate. Most commercial supplies carry 20%, but Group 1 of Schedule 7A to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 charges 5% where the supply is for qualifying use. Qualifying use means two things: domestic use, and use by a charity for its non-business activities.

Domestic use is far wider than “a house”. It takes in flats and dwellings, caravans and houseboats, children’s homes and homes providing care for the elderly or disabled, student halls of residence, armed forces accommodation and self-catering holiday accommodation. Hotels, prisons and hospitals are excluded. There is also a de minimis rule: a supply of electricity averaging no more than 33 kilowatt hours a day — 1,000 kWh a month — to one customer at one set of premises is treated as domestic whatever it is actually used for. That sweeps in a large number of small shops, salons, workshops, consulting rooms and village halls. Where premises are mixed, the 60% rule applies: if at least 60% of the supply is qualifying use, the whole supply takes the lower rate; below that, it is apportioned.

What Changes From 1 October 2026

The cut was announced on 21 July 2026 and is timed to land before the next Ofgem price cap, so the saving shows in the cap rather than being absorbed on the way through.

The 5% reduced rate on qualifying supplies of electricity becomes 0% for supplies made on or after 1 October 2026.
The relief runs to 31 March 2027 and reverts to 5% from 1 April 2027 unless it is extended at the Autumn Budget.
It is electricity only. Gas, heating oil, LPG, coal and supplies of heat, steam, ventilation and air conditioning remain at 5% where they qualify.
It applies in Great Britain only. Under the Windsor Framework, Northern Ireland remains subject to EU VAT rules and cannot take on a new zero rate; the Northern Ireland Executive receives comparable funding to provide equivalent support instead.
The cost is put at £850 million in 2026-27, funded by cancelling the £1.8 billion Digital ID programme, and is expected to take around 0.10 percentage points off CPI.

Crucially, the announcement does not change who qualifies. It changes only the rate charged on supplies that already qualify for the reduced rate today. Draft legislation had not been published when this article went out; the measure is expected to be delivered by Treasury order amending the VAT Act rather than in a Finance Bill.

The Catch — Two Dates, and a Rate Change in Each Direction

VAT on a continuous supply of power falls due at the rate in force at the tax point, which for most energy accounts is the earlier of the invoice date and the date payment is received. That is not the same as the date the electricity was used. Where a rate changes, section 88 of the VAT Act allows a supplier to account instead by reference to when the supply was actually made, and suppliers will normally apportion a billing period straddling 1 October 2026 so that only the part supplied on or after that date is zero-rated. Customers should check the apportionment rather than assume it.

Three points deserve attention. First, a fixed tariff is no protection and no exclusion: the VAT rate is a matter of law, not of contract, so a fixed-price deal should still show 0% from 1 October. Second, advance payments and direct debits taken before 1 October for electricity supplied afterwards create a tax point at 5%, which the supplier should correct. Third, a credit note or rebilling issued after 1 October but relating to electricity supplied before it must carry VAT at 5%, not 0% — a credit follows the rate on the original supply. Every one of these reverses on 1 April 2027, when the rate goes back up.

Who Benefits — and Who Should Still Pay Attention

The saving is only real where the VAT is irrecoverable. A VAT-registered trading business that recovers its input tax in full is neutral: cash flow improves slightly, but cost does not move.

The gainers are those who cannot reclaim. Households. Charities, on their non-business activities. Care homes, hospices and supported housing, whose income is largely VAT exempt so their input tax sticks. Academies, housing associations and NHS staff accommodation. And small unregistered businesses whose electricity sits under the de minimis limit and is therefore charged at the domestic rate. Partly exempt businesses gain to the extent of their restriction.

The group that should pay closest attention is anyone with qualifying premises who has never given their supplier a certificate of qualifying use. Without that certificate the supplier charges 20%, and the zero rate never reaches the bill at all. If the mix of use at a site has drifted above or below the 60% line since the certificate was signed, that needs revisiting too — in either direction.

What Businesses, Charities and Households Should Do Now

Check the October bill actually shows 0% on qualifying electricity, including on a fixed tariff, and query it with the supplier if it does not.
Confirm the supplier holds a current certificate of qualifying use for every qualifying site — residential accommodation, care home, charity non-business use or de minimis — and refresh it where the use has changed.
Look at the invoice covering 1 October 2026 and check the period has been apportioned rather than charged at 5% throughout. Do exactly the same with the invoice covering 1 April 2027.
Review advance payments, direct debit schedules and any prepayment for electricity to be supplied after 1 October, and make sure the correction comes through.
Diarise 31 March 2027 and budget on the basis that 5% returns the next day. Treat any extension announced at the Autumn Budget as a bonus, not a plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the 0% rate cover gas as well as electricity?

No. The measure is confined to electricity. Gas, heating oil, LPG, coal and supplies of heat or steam remain at the 5% reduced rate where they are for qualifying use.

Does it apply in Northern Ireland?

No. Northern Ireland remains subject to EU VAT rules under the Windsor Framework and cannot introduce a new zero rate, so domestic electricity there stays at 5%. The Northern Ireland Executive is receiving comparable funding to deliver equivalent cost-of-living support by another route.

My business is not VAT registered and uses very little electricity. Do I benefit?

Very probably. If your electricity at a set of premises averages no more than 33 kWh a day, or 1,000 kWh a month, it is charged at the domestic rate regardless of what it is used for, and that rate becomes 0% from 1 October 2026.

What rate goes on a credit note issued after 1 October for a bill charged at 5%?

5%. A credit note takes the rate of the supply it corrects, not the rate in force when it is issued. The same principle applies in reverse to credits issued after 1 April 2027 for zero-rated supplies made before it.

How TaxDigit Can Help

TaxDigit advises on VAT across the full range of partial exemption, qualifying use and rate-change issues, alongside tax advisory and planning and day-to-day bookkeeping for charities, care providers and owner-managed businesses. We can test whether your premises qualify, draft or refresh the certificate of qualifying use, review the straddling invoices on both sides of the relief and recover VAT charged at the wrong rate. We took the same approach to the recent locum doctor VAT exemption refund window. The underlying reduced-rate provision is at Schedule 7A to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 on legislation.gov.uk.

Plan Ahead With TaxDigit

Six months of relief is easy to miss and easy to get wrong at both ends. If you run qualifying premises — or you are not sure whether you do — it is worth checking before the October bill lands rather than afterwards. Call 01483 230 777, email info@taxdigit.co.uk or book a consultation with our team in Guildford, Surrey.

A 10p rise, now on the statute book — from 6 April 2026 the approved mileage rate for cars and vans increases from 45p to 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles, the first change since 2011, and it is backdated to the start of the tax year. As chartered certified accountants in Surrey advising sole traders, company directors and employers across the UK, TaxDigit explains what section 2 of the Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Act 2026 actually changed, what it deliberately left alone, and what needs correcting before the year end.

Approved mileage rate rises from 45p to 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles from 6 April 2026 - TaxDigit accountants in Surrey

What Approved Mileage Rates Are — and Why They Matter

Two separate regimes run off the same figure. For employees and directors, sections 229 to 232 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 set an approved amount for Approved Mileage Allowance Payments. Reimburse a business journey at or below that amount and the payment is free of income tax and National Insurance and needs no P11D entry. Pay above it and the excess is earnings.

For the self-employed, section 94F of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 provides simplified mileage expenses: a flat deduction per business mile instead of apportioning fuel, insurance, servicing, repairs and capital allowances between business and private use.

Because both regimes are pegged to the same pence-per-mile number, a single amendment moves the tax position of around three million drivers at once. That number had stood at 45p since 2011/12, while the running costs it approximates had not.

What Changes From 6 April 2026

Cars and vans, first 10,000 business miles in the tax year: 45p rises to 55p per mile.
Cars and vans, every business mile above 10,000: unchanged at 25p.
The same 55p and 25p figures apply to self-employed simplified mileage expenses.
The change is made by section 2 of the Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Act 2026 (c. 26), which received Royal Assent on 15 July 2026. It substitutes “55p” for “45p” in ITEPA 2003 s.230(2) and in ITTOIA 2005 s.94F(2) and (3).
Section 2(3) gives the amendment effect for the tax year 2026-27 and subsequent tax years — so it bites on journeys made from 6 April 2026, three months before the Act was passed.

The measure was announced in May 2026 as part of the Government’s Great British Summer Savings package. On HMRC’s own figures, an employee driving 6,000 business miles a year is roughly £120 better off. A driver reaching the full 10,000 miles gains £1,000 of additional tax-free reimbursement or deductible expense.

The Catch — What Did Not Change

The Act does one thing to mileage: it swaps a number. Everything around that number stands, and this is where the planning points sit.

The 25p rate above 10,000 miles is untouched, so the drop after the 10,000th mile is now 30p rather than 20p. High-mileage drivers take the full uplift on the first tranche and nothing beyond it, which makes accurate mileage logs and a correct split between business and commuting journeys more valuable than before, not less. Motorcycles remain at 24p, bicycles at 20p and the passenger supplement at 5p per passenger per business mile; none were amended.

Most importantly, 55p is a ceiling, not an entitlement. Nothing obliges an employer to pay it. Where an employer reimburses below the approved amount — including any employer still paying 45p — the employee can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the shortfall, worth £200 to a basic-rate taxpayer covering 10,000 miles at 45p, or £400 at the higher rate.

Who Benefits — and Who Should Still Pay Attention

The clearest winners are self-employed traders using simplified expenses and owner-managers who reimburse themselves from their own company: the extra 10p is a straight increase in a tax-free extraction route carrying no National Insurance and no benefit-in-kind charge.

Employers who have already processed claims since 6 April need to look backwards. HMRC confirmed in Agent Update 143 that employers who reimbursed above the old rates, and deducted income tax and National Insurance on the excess, may need to re-run April and May payroll. Anyone still paying 45p is under-reimbursing against the new approved amount and should decide whether to top up or leave staff to claim the relief themselves.

What Drivers and Employers Should Do Now

Update expense policies, mileage claim forms and any expense software to 55p and 25p, effective for journeys from 6 April 2026.
Review every mileage payment made since 6 April, identify shortfalls against the new approved amount, and settle them — re-running April and May payroll where tax or NIC was deducted in error.
Check the 10,000-mile counter for each employee: the rate falls to 25p on the 10,001st mile, and the counter resets on 6 April, not on 1 January.
Self-employed clients should apply 55p and 25p in the 2026/27 return, due 31 October 2027 on paper or 31 January 2028 online, remembering that simplified mileage cannot be used for a vehicle on which capital allowances have been claimed.
Keep a contemporaneous mileage log recording date, journey, purpose and miles. The rate change makes the record worth more, and HMRC still disallows undocumented claims.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my employer obliged to pay 55p per mile?

No. The approved amount is the maximum that can be paid free of tax and National Insurance, not a statutory minimum. If your employer pays less, you can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the difference through your tax return or a P87 claim.

Does the increase apply to journeys before the Act received Royal Assent?

Yes. Section 2(3) applies the amendment to the whole of 2026-27, so every qualifying business journey from 6 April 2026 onwards is covered, even though the Act was not passed until 15 July 2026.

Did the rate above 10,000 miles go up as well?

No. It stays at 25p per mile. Only the first-10,000-mile rate for cars and vans was amended, and the motorcycle, bicycle and passenger rates are unchanged.

Can I use 55p if I have claimed capital allowances on the car?

Not as a self-employed trader. Simplified mileage expenses and capital allowances on the same vehicle are mutually exclusive, and the choice made for a vehicle must be kept for as long as that vehicle is used in the business.

How TaxDigit Can Help

TaxDigit advises on personal tax and self assessment, alongside tax advisory and planning and day-to-day bookkeeping for owner-managed businesses. We can recalculate mileage claims from 6 April 2026, quantify the underpayment on claims already processed at 45p, decide whether a payroll re-run or a Mileage Allowance Relief claim is the cleaner route, and check that simplified expenses still beat actual costs and capital allowances. The amending provision is at section 2 of the Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Act 2026 on legislation.gov.uk.

Plan Ahead With TaxDigit

If you or your staff drive for business, the backdated increase is worth reviewing before the next payroll run rather than at the year end. Call 01483 230 777, email info@taxdigit.co.uk or book a consultation with our team in Guildford, Surrey.