Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the performance of HM Revenue and Customs against its targets on the processing and completion of corporate VAT returns.

HM Revenue & Customs receive over 99% of VAT returns from business electronically. These are processed automatically. We commit to processing all VAT Returns within 8 days of receipt.

All returns where a repayment is claimed are subject to an automated risk process, following which HMRC either makes the repayment or carries out further checks. HMRC has a statutory responsibility to take decisions on repayments within 30 days. In cases where HMRC does not achieve this, it is required to pay a repayment supplement. In 2013/14, HMRC met its statutory responsibility in over 99% of cases.

Returns where a payment is due are not subject to the same automated risk assessment. Cases are selected for compliance checks on the basis of a range of risk factors not necessarily triggered by individual VAT returns.