From 22 May 2023, HMRC will be closing its VAT helpline – a service dedicated to helping taxpayers with questions about their VAT registration application.
After this date, the staff from this helpline will be processing the VAT applications instead of answering calls.
What does this mean?
HMRC has stated that it will keep the closure under review as it continues to try and encourage more people to use its online services instead of calling HMRC staff members.
HMRC said: “We constantly review our customer service offer to make sure that we prioritise our work in the best possible way to maximise our service offering to our customer groups who need it the most.
“Last year, we trialled closing certain phone lines one day each week and found that we were able to clear more than 4,000 additional pieces of post each day on average.”
According to their statistics, over 85 per cent of phone calls to the helpline were business owners and accountants wanting an update on the status of their application, which is viewable online with the ‘Where’s my reply’ tool.
Due to this, HMRC is confident that closing this helpline in favour of processing the applications online will be a positive change and will reduce the processing times significantly.
HMRC state that it takes up to 40 days to process an application for VAT registration and that those waiting should not get in touch until after those 40 days.
After 40 days, you should use HMRC’s specific VAT registration email vrs.newregistrations@hmrc.gov.uk to check your application and you should receive a reply within five days.
For more information on this, get in touch with our team today.
