By: Money Navigator Research Team
Last Reviewed: 28/01/2026
FACT CHECKED
Quick Summary
Tide’s paid plan membership fees run on a calendar-month billing cycle (1st to last day), with collection on the 1st; upgrades are typically pro-rata for the remainder of the month, and downgrades usually take effect from the next month.
VAT treatment depends on the specific Tide product and has changed for paid plans, so the same “VAT expectation” does not apply to every Tide charge.
For records, the membership fee normally appears as a transaction, and Tide provides export/statement options that many businesses use as supporting bookkeeping evidence.
This article is educational and not financial advice.
What “Tide Membership” covers (and what it doesn’t)
In Tide’s terminology, membership commonly refers to your plan level (for example Smart, Pro, Max) and the related fee. That plan fee is separate from other Tide products that may carry their own charges (for example invoicing add-ons).
This distinction matters because billing dates and VAT treatment can differ by product, even when everything is managed in the same app.
Monthly fees: what Tide says the plans cost
Tide publishes plan pricing on its own support pages. At the time of writing (January 2026), Tide states:
Smart: £12.49 per month (no VAT applies) and also offers a yearly option on the same page. See How much does Tide Smart cost?
Pro: £24.99 per month (no VAT applies) and also offers a yearly option on the same page. See How much does Tide Pro cost?
Max: £69.99 per month (no VAT applies), with collection on the 1st for the calendar month. See How much does Tide Max cost?
Because Tide can update pricing, the safest way to treat the figures above is as Tide’s published statements on those pages, rather than an enduring promise.
Billing dates: the membership cycle and when charges are collected
The paid plan billing cycle (calendar month)
Tide states that its paid plan billing cycle runs from the 1st to the last day of each month, and that payments are collected on the 1st. See When will I be billed my membership fees?
That design has a practical implication: the date you upgrade can affect the first charge amount (because Tide states the first month on an upgrade is pro-rata), but the standard collection date remains the 1st thereafter.
Upgrades mid-month (pro-rata) vs downgrades mid-month (next-month effect)
Tide states that:
Upgrading part-way through a month leads to a pro-rata charge for the remaining days, then the full monthly price is collected on the next 1st. See When will I be billed my membership fees?
Downgrading on or after the 1st still results in a charge for that month, with the downgrade taking effect from the next month. See the same page: When will I be billed my membership fees?
The operational effect is that a downgrade often behaves like a “change scheduled for the next cycle” rather than an immediate reversal of that month’s plan fee.
What happens if the membership fee can’t be collected
Tide states that if it can’t collect the fee on the 1st because there isn’t enough money in the account, it will try again every day until the end of the month.
If it still can’t collect the fee, Tide states it will automatically downgrade the account, and paid-plan access is lost on the 1st of the following month. See What happens if I can’t pay the fee?
This is a billing/process point rather than a judgement about the business: it’s simply how Tide says the plan fee collection is handled.
Why it can look like you were “charged twice”
Tide states that membership fees are taken on the 1st, and that a second charge appearance can be due to transactional fees (for example, fees that arise on top of plan allowances) being collected later in the month. See Why have I been charged twice?
In other words, two debits in the same month can reflect two different fee types, not necessarily two plan fees.
VAT: when Tide charges it (and why it may be inconsistent across products)
Paid plans and VAT changes
Tide explains VAT treatment for certain paid services and states that, from 1 October 2025, it no longer charges VAT for paid plans (Smart, Pro, Max). See Why do you charge VAT?
This is important for bookkeeping because it changes what evidence is needed to support any VAT position: if no VAT is charged on the plan fee, there may be nothing to reclaim as input VAT on that specific line item.
Add-ons may still show VAT
Some Tide add-ons can still be shown as “+ VAT” in Tide’s own documentation. For example, Tide states that “Invoice Assistant” is £5.99 + VAT per month. See Is Tide Invoicing free?
So a “no VAT applies” message for the plan fee does not automatically extend to every optional product.
Invoices, receipts, and what counts as evidence
What HMRC expects on invoices (high level)
GOV.UK provides guidance on invoicing and highlights that VAT invoices are used when both parties are VAT registered, and that invoices must include certain information. See Invoices – what they must include
For more technical VAT record-keeping detail (including the concept of a VAT invoice and timing expectations), HMRC’s VAT Notice 700/21 is a primary reference point. See Record keeping (VAT Notice 700/21)
What Tide typically provides for membership fee records
For Tide membership fees, many businesses rely on transaction records and exports rather than a traditional supplier “VAT invoice” format (especially where no VAT is charged on the plan fee). Tide states that transaction data can be exported to CSV from the app or web. See Can I export my transactions?
Where a business needs a document trail for accounting purposes, it’s common for the transaction entry, statement, and export to be used together as supporting evidence, with VAT treatment determined by what is actually shown as VAT on the charge.
Summary Table
| Scenario | Outcome | Practical impact |
|---|---|---|
| On a paid plan at month start | Fee collected on the 1st for the calendar month | Cash-flow impact concentrated on the 1st |
| Upgrade mid-month | Tide states the first month is charged pro-rata | Partial charge may appear between the 1st and month-end |
| Downgrade on/after the 1st | Tide states downgrade takes effect next month | Current month fee still charged; plan change applies next cycle |
| Insufficient funds on the 1st | Tide states it retries daily until month-end | Multiple collection attempts can occur within the month |
| Still not collected by month-end | Tide states automatic downgrade next month | Paid-plan access ends on the next 1st |
| “Charged twice” appearance | Tide states later charges may be transactional fees | Two debits can be different fee categories, not two plan fees |
| VAT confusion | Tide states paid plans have no VAT from 1 Oct 2025 | VAT treatment may differ between plan fee and add-ons |
| Need records for bookkeeping | Tide offers transaction export | CSV export/statement evidence may be used to support accounting entries |
Scenario Table
| Scenario-level | Process-level | Outcome-level |
|---|---|---|
| Plan changes within a month | Pro-rata logic on upgrades; next-cycle logic on downgrades | Mixed fee pattern: partial now, full on next 1st, or downgrade later |
| Collection date arrives (1st) | Tide attempts fee collection | Successful debit or retry loop if insufficient balance |
| Multiple Tide fees in one month | Plan fee vs transactional/add-on fees can be collected separately | More than one debit can be legitimate under different fee rules |
| VAT treatment differs by product | Paid plans vs add-ons can be treated differently | VAT may be absent on the plan fee but present on a separate add-on |
| Audit trail needed | Transaction listing + export capability | Evidence often lives in the transaction record and exported data |
Tide Business Bank Account
Tide is widely used by UK SMEs and offers different plan tiers with different fee structures and included allowances.
Our broader overview of Tide’s business account positioning (separate from the billing mechanics in this post) is here: Tide business account review
For context on how monthly-fee models differ across providers more generally, see business bank accounts with no monthly fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tide states that the paid plan billing cycle runs from the 1st to the last day of the month, and that payments are collected on the 1st. That implies the plan fee is designed around a calendar-month model rather than an anniversary-date model. See When will I be billed my membership fees?
Where confusion arises is that other Tide products can follow different billing rules, and businesses can also see additional fees later in the month that are not the membership fee. Tide addresses the “charged twice” pattern as a combination of plan fees and other fees. See Why have I been charged twice?
Tide states that on an upgrade the first month is charged pro-rata, meaning the charge reflects only the remaining days in that month. This is intended to align the amount charged with the portion of the month left after the upgrade date. See When will I be billed my membership fees?
A practical edge case is upgrading near the end of the month: a small pro-rata charge can be followed quite soon by the full monthly fee on the next 1st. That sequence can look unusual in a transaction list if it’s read without the “calendar month + pro-rata” model in mind.
Tide states that if a downgrade happens on or after the 1st of the month, the business is still charged for that month, and the downgrade takes effect from the beginning of the next month. See When will I be billed my membership fees?
That means the downgrade behaves more like a scheduled change for the next cycle than an immediate reversal of the current month’s fee. In bookkeeping terms, the fee remains an expense for that month’s access, even if the downgrade decision occurs part-way through the month.
Tide states that it no longer charges VAT for paid plans (Smart, Pro, Max) starting on 1 October 2025. See Why do you charge VAT?
The important nuance is that “VAT on the plan fee” is not the same thing as “VAT never appears on any Tide charge”. VAT treatment depends on the specific product and what is actually shown on the charge.
Tide’s own documentation distinguishes between paid plans and other paid services. For example, Tide states “Invoice Assistant” costs £5.99 + VAT per month. See Is Tide Invoicing free?
So VAT appearing on an add-on does not contradict Tide’s statement about VAT not applying to the paid plan fee. It can simply indicate that different products are billed under different VAT treatments.
For VAT and invoicing rules generally, GOV.UK sets out what invoices must include and when VAT invoices are used. See Invoices – what they must include
In practice, many subscription-style services are evidenced via transaction records and statements rather than a separately issued supplier invoice for every monthly debit.
For Tide specifically, the membership fee will typically appear as a transaction, and Tide provides export functionality that can support bookkeeping records. See Can I export my transactions?
Tide states it will try to collect the fee on the 1st, and if it can’t because there isn’t enough money, it will try again every day until the end of the month. See What happens if I can’t pay the fee?
If the fee still can’t be collected by the end of the month, Tide states it will automatically downgrade the account and the business loses paid-plan access on the 1st of the following month. That creates a clear “end-of-month decision point” in the billing logic.
Tide states that paid plan fees are taken on the 1st, and that later charges can reflect transactional fees due on top of plan allowances (for example, transfer fees), collected later in the month. See Why have I been charged twice?
This matters because transaction descriptions often drive accounting categorisation. Two debits in close proximity may need to be separated into “plan fee” versus “usage/transactional fees” for internal reporting consistency.
Tide states yearly pricing on its Smart and Pro pricing support pages (alongside monthly pricing). See How much does Tide Smart cost? and How much does Tide Pro cost?
Annual billing changes the documentation pattern: instead of 12 monthly debits, a business may see a single larger debit, and the bookkeeping treatment may reflect a prepayment that is recognised across the service period (depending on the accounting approach in use).
From a records standpoint, VAT Notice 700/21 explains the importance of keeping VAT invoices and business records and provides detail on what constitutes a VAT invoice in VAT terms. See Record keeping (VAT Notice 700/21)
For Tide membership fees specifically, a common evidence set is the transaction entry plus an export or statement extract, because Tide states transaction data can be exported to CSV. See Can I export my transactions?
Subscription billing is often less about the headline monthly price and more about the rules that govern timing and categorisation.
Tide’s model (calendar-month cycle, collection on the 1st, and pro-rata upgrades) can produce transaction patterns that look unfamiliar if a business expects “one charge, once a month, always the same day and amount”.
For clean bookkeeping, the key is usually separating plan fees from usage-based or add-on fees, and matching each charge to the period and VAT treatment that the supplier actually applies.
Where VAT is not charged on the plan fee, the evidencing question shifts from “VAT invoice” to “reliable service/transaction record”.
Sources & References
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