27/06/2026
Applied for VAT? Don't make this common mistake
A business owner registered for VAT because they expected their turnover to exceed the VAT registration threshold. As it was their first year in business and they didn't have an accountant, they completed the VAT registration themselves online.
Time passed, and they carried on trading as normal. They assumed that HMRC would contact them once the registration was complete. Unfortunately, they didn't think about VAT again until they received a letter from HMRC charging late filing penalties, late payment penalties, and interest.
Ideally, HMRC would issue a confirmation of the VAT registration and provide details of when the first VAT return is due. However, according to the business owner, they never received any such correspondence.
You might think this would be HMRC's responsibility. However, in practice, it doesn't remove the taxpayer's obligation to meet their tax deadlines. There could be many reasons why a letter wasn't received:
• It may have been sent to an old address.
• It may have been lost in the post.
• Or in rare cases, HMRC may have failed to issue it.
Whatever the reason, the responsibility for checking the status of a tax registration and meeting filing deadlines still rests with the taxpayer.
In this case, the business owner should have logged into their HMRC Business Tax Account to check whether the VAT registration had been completed, find their VAT registration number, confirm their VAT return periods, and submit their returns on time.
Registering for a tax is only the first step. Keeping track of deadlines, submitting accurate returns on time, and paying the correct amount by the due date are all part of the taxpayer's responsibilities.
The good news is that after preparing and submitting all of the outstanding VAT returns, we successfully appealed the penalties, and HMRC agreed to cancel them. The business only had to pay the interest on the overdue VAT, bringing the matter to a close.
The lesson: Never assume that no news means nothing has happened. If you've applied to register for a tax, regularly check your HMRC account to make sure you know what your next obligations are. A few minutes of checking can save a lot of money and stress later.
