December 2022 VATwatch

HMRC Guidance for Responding to Questions about a Repayment Return

HMRC has released a summary of how to respond when they write to a business with questions about a repayment return. They give details of how to reply online.

HMRC seem to be requiring quite a bit of standard information which they already should have on file. They state that they will review information and aim to respond within 7 working days.

Autumn Statement – VAT Threshold to Remain Unchanged

As part of the government’s Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that the VAT registration threshold of £85,000; as well as the deregistration threshold of £83,000 are to remain the same for at least a further 2 years from April 2024.

HMRC VAT Gap Estimate

HMRC have published their estimate of the VAT gap; the difference between VAT they believe they should receive and the VAT they have received for the year 2021 to 2022. 

The VAT gap model includes an adjustment to remove the impact of the VAT Referral Scheme introduced during COVID, the gap is estimated to be £10 billion. 

HMRC Guidance on VAT Liability and Energy Bill Support Schemes

The Energy Prices Bill was introduced to Parliament in October 2022. The government announced support for households, businesses, voluntary and public sector organisations facing rising energy bills through three schemes.

For details VAT liability for each of the three schemes, the link below takes you to the full guidance.