We have become increasingly aware of HMRC backlogs in terms of dealing with correspondence, and HMRC have now released a "Service Performance" dashboard which shows information as to how long it is taking to deal with specific types of enquiries.
Many claims seems to be working on a 50-60 day delay, however some go back as far 9 months.
HMRC indicate they aim to return to a normal "15 day" response time by October this year.
The dashboard will be updated weekly and currently some of the information showing includes Refunds from self assessment tax returns are held in a backlog with HMRC meaning that claims are taking up to 56 days to handle compared with the usual 15 working days turnaround. Appeals against HMRC Self Assessment penalties are taking up to 3 months.
VAT registration and deregistration handling is meeting the 30-day target but sending VAT option to tax applications by post should be avoided as HMRC is working through a backlog dating back to September 2021.
The link for the dashboard is below, and shows if a service is operating within it's target level or of there are delays. We'll also put this on our website under "Other Links" for ease of access.
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/HMRC-service-dashboard/HMRC-service-dashboard-start
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