I have a client who has decided to voluntarily register for VAT. They have been trading for 3 months, and import from Germany, and sell back into Europe. They want to register from 20 October BUT they filled out the online registration form incorrectly with the date the business started and have just received their VAT registration effective 1 August. Their sales are retail - so they have no chance of recharging any of the output VAT to customers. This will cost them about £500. HMRC aren't being particularly helpful as the error is on his side, not theirs. He has written to them to explain his error, but they stated that 90% of these requests are declined. Any assistance as to how to handle this would be very much appreciated.
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Where did the client letter go?
If the client wrote to the Registration Unit which handled the request (and amazingly speedily for a potential MTIC fraudster) I can't think of anything more which they can do - aside from keep trying and point out the error.
I must say that I have always found HMRC to be very helpful in such situations.