Last year, one of the main complaints among new businesses contacting Just Accountants was that their VAT registration applications seemed to have been stuck in the ether for weeks, even months at a time.
The rumour, largely perpetuated by HMRC chief David Harnett, was that one firm of accountants had single handedly caused a massive bottleneck in the process by submitting 20,000 VAT applications in only one month.
However, it appears that this wasn't the reason for the delays at all.
In fact, the real reason was that "The VAT registration computer systems could not provide reliable information on the level of work unhand as the data was not robust. Also, staff shortages meant that some applications were not entered promptly on to the registration computer systems."
While the firm of accountants alleged to have submitted so many applications in a single month was never named, I don't see them receiving an apology from Mr Harnett.
Is this because there was no such firm? Who knows.
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