VAT: Registration

Mr. Gauke

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of complete and accurate VAT registration applications were processed within 21 days of receipt in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available. (142798)

[holding answer 14 June 2007]: HM Revenue and Customs currently record processing time for all applications and no longer distinguish between those that are either complete or incomplete. The latest available monthly figures are as follows:

Month	Percentage of applications processed within 21 days of receipt
2006
April	60
May	56
June	57
July	57
August	59
September	71
October	88
November	85
December	79
2007
January	58
February	63
March	60

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints HM Revenue and Customs received on the time taken to process VAT registrations in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available. (142799)

[holding answer 14 June 2007]: HMRC registers over 280,000 new businesses every year. Over the past 12 months less than 1 per cent. of these businesses have complained about registration delays.

The recent increase in the number of complaints is the result of the introduction of more rigorous pre-registration checks designed to combat MTIC fraud. HMRC are working to reduce the number of registration delays.

The number of complaints received about registration delays is as follows:

Month	Number of complaints
2006
June	109
July	96
August	92
September	65
October	78
November	65
December	54
2007
January	69
February	85
March	100
April	131
May	133

Volume 461: debated on Monday 18 June 2007