Updated VAT registration service goes live on 1 August

HMRC has been developing a new VAT registration service aimed at speeding up the process and improving its security. It states in Agent Update 98 that the authority has been testing the service throughout the past 18 months and has now had more than 37 000 taxpayers successfully register their own business.

The next step is to switch on the new functionality for agents at which time HMRC will divert all new applications from the legacy service. One of the key changes is that everyone will be automatically signed up to making tax digital as part of registration removing the need for that extra step.

HMRC says the service will go live on 1 August 2022 and recommends that any incomplete unsubmitted VAT applications for clients are submitted by 31 July 2022 at 5pm. Any partly completed saved applications on the...