Taxman’s VAT registration figures ‘seriously misleading’

Taxman's VAT registration figures 'seriously misleading'

VAT registration waiting time figures were misleading, say the Tories

The tax-man has been accused of producing ‘seriously misleading’ figures on
how long it takes a business to register for VAT.

Minutes from a Joint VAT Consultative Committee meeting show that the length
of wait for VAT registrations was capped at 60 days when producing calculations
for the average length of time.

HM Revenue & Customs has been fighting for months to bring down the time
of VAT registrations.

The statistics previously provided were ‘seriously misleading and likely to
be a substantial underestimate’, shadow Treasury minister David Gauke told
Taxation.

He will write to financial secretary to the Treasury Jane Kennedy to ask why
the cap was not made clear during parliamentary questions.

HMRC said it had ‘in no way tried to mislead anyone’ over VAT registration
statistics.

An HMRC statement said: ‘HMRC has been consistently clear about the basis on
which statistics on VAT registration are calculated, including that there have
been limitations in the past.

‘In recent months we have made substantial improvements to the processing of
registration applications and this has enhanced the quality of the data and
statistics available on VAT regsitrations.’

Further reading:

Government: VAT delays are
‘unnaceptable’

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