Question
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many VAT-registered companies were operating in each region and country in the United Kingdom in (a) 1997, (b) 2006, and (c) 2009. [HL2751]
A business's place of registration may not always be a reliable indicator of where it does business. This is particularly true for larger businesses as while most businesses have one VAT registration, larger businesses may have more than one VAT registration.
Figures on the number of VAT registered entities operating in each region were published in the then Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's publication Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations in 2007 and its associated tables, available at http://stats.berr.gov.uk/ed/vat/. This information is reproduced in the table below.
1997 2006 2008 £48,000 £60,000 £64,000 Number of VAT registered entities at start of: 1997 2006 2008 Region North East 42,600 48,990 52,285 North West 160,175 184,700 194,700 Yorkshire and the Humber 121,470 139,125 145,240 East Midlands 111,885 132,520 139,155 West Midlands 137,210 160,795 167,075 East of England 163,655 196,270 204,645 London 238,680 300,160 321,635 South East 249,300 305,395 319,850 South West 156,375 183,440 191,125 Country England 1,381,350 1,651,395 1,735,710 Wales 77,825 85,045 87,340 Scotland 120,810 134,290 141,895 Northern Ireland 55,375 64,685 66,230
As this report is no longer compiled, recent figures for 2009 are available only at disproportionate cost. In January 2009 HMRC's figures show that there were 1,974,142 VAT registered traders in the UK; the VAT registration threshold was £67,000 at this time. Further information is available at https://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=bullvat.