HMRC have announced that they will be closing their VAT Registration Helpline from Monday 22 May 2023, a phoneline dedicated for people to call if they have problems or concerns with their VAT registration applications.

Advisors will be redeployed to process VAT registrations instead, with HMRC citing that up to 4,000 pieces of post on average will be processed as a result of this change.

The ‘Where’s my reply‘ tool gives an expected response date for any items sent to HMRC, including VAT registration,

Using the tool today (17 May 2023) to check how long you should wait for specific services shows that they are currently processing applications for Self Employment registration received on 24 April 2023 (approx 15 days).

For VAT Registration queries using today as the registration date, the system cites a response should be expected by 12 July 2023 – they’re currently working on applications received on 20 March.

HMRC have introduced a new mailbox to chase any VAT registrations which have been pending for more than 40 working days – which aims to respond back within 5 working days.

HMRC are required by law to respond to some enquiries within 30 days – however for anything which isn’t statutory under this law, there are no deadlines set and therefore no requirement to respond as quickly.