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Written question asked by Paul Truswell (Labour) on Tuesday, 19 June 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 June 2007. It was answered by Jane Kennedy (Labour) on Monday, 23 July 2007 on behalf of the Treasury.

VAT: Registration

Question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many VAT registration applications were received in each of the last five years; what the average time taken to process such applications was in each year; what the target time is to process such applications; and how many and what proportion of applications were processed within that target time in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answer

VAT registration is the entry point to Missing Trader Intra-Community and other fraud—which reduced VAT receipts by an estimated £2 billion to £3 billion (2005-06). It is right that HM Revenue and Customs take steps to stop those who would abuse the system.However, HMRC recognise that there has been a problem in recent months with delays in processing the VAT registration applications of genuine businesses. HMRC has put in place plans to improve the processing of registrations and already have additional staff in post and IT investment under way.

Number of applications received Average processing time (95 per cent.)¹ Target time How many/what proportion processed within target
2002-03 257,139 ²n/a 15 working days 248,910 (96.8 per cent.)
2003-04 299,043 n/a 15 working days 278,409 (93.1 per cent.)
2004-05 269,515 n/a 15 working days 262,238 (97.3 per cent.)
2005-06 284,804 n/a 15 working days 267,431 (93.9 per cent.)
2006-07 285,176 29 days 14 calendar days 77,568 (27.2 per cent.)
¹Average measurement made on basis of 95 per cent. of low risk cases
²Revenue and Customs did not record the average processing times for years 2002-03 to 2005-06.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
144728; 463 c665-6W
Session
2006-07
Related items
VAT: Registration
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects
Registration VAT
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk