Delayed VAT Registrations

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Applied for a VAT Registration for a client on 9th May and got a message not to follow up until month later.  I did follow up with the VAT registration Unit beginning of June then was told there was a 8 week delay.  Chased HMRC last week again and they said there was a three month delay now.  Few weeks ago applied for a VAT registration for another client and that came the next day !

Unfortunately, I had given expectations to my client that we should have the VAT registration number in around two weeks and he is now chasing me constantly for it.

I know there were 3 months delays with VAT registrations during the Pandemic and soon after but thought things were much better. Any idea how this can be expedited ?

 

 

Replies (5)

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By Duggimon
30th Jun 2022 10:19

I'm in a similar situation, applied on 16 June and have been told there's a need for "further checks" and not to get in touch until 30 days have elapsed.

This is a client who went over the threshold in May, I wasn't permitted to register until June, then additional ID verification was required because HMRC couldn't recognise the individual (who has been filing under self assessment for 20 years) delaying the application - now by law he has to be registered from 1 July but I'm not even permitted to contact HMRC until two weeks after that to find out if he's going to get a VAT number, and there was no way for me to do this any faster.

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By Jason Croke
30th Jun 2022 10:28

HMRC VAT registrations is a mystery wrapped up in another mystery.

I do plenty of VAT registrations, all done online via my agent gateway.

For UK businesses, I can get a VAT number as quick as 48hrs but also sometimes takes a couple of weeks.

For non-UK businesses, I can get them within about a fortnight or 3+ months.

The only pattern I can see for non-UK applications is where HMRC think the business doesn't need a registration such as if they think you sell stuff via eBay or if you only do services which could be B2B reverse charged, I've certainly had a fair few delays with EU businesses wanting a UK VAT number so that they can be the importer into the UK.

Looks like if the application is very boring, UK centric then the autobot just issues the VAT number, but if you trigger a manual intervention by a human, then it goes into the piled high inbox of someone to manually deal with.

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Replying to Jason Croke:
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By LondonAccountants
30th Jun 2022 11:11

Actually you are right. One director is based in UK and the other director overseas but we applied using the UK Director name.

They did mention it probably has gone for a manual review.

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By mumpin
01st Jul 2022 12:51

Also Construction sector seems to require extra HMRC checks.
If I phone registrations after the 30 days are up it seems to prompt them into action. If I didnt phone I dont think they would ever issue a Vat number...
Fiscal drag means this can only get worse.

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By Breckmans
05th Oct 2022 13:57

I have been waiting six months for one client - two online applications and then a paper one in August - nothing from HMRC. It's unacceptable.

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