The UK tax system is currently under attack from fraudsters who have been attempting to register different people for self-assessment then submitting false repayment claims.
How Is HMRC Dealing With This?
In order to tackle the situation, HMRC has become stricter when checking self-assessment registration applications and repayment claims.
If you have not claimed a repayment before, you may be asked for ID verification and evidence of your trading activity. Unfortunately, this has slowed down the processing of genuine tax repayments and is now causing a backlog of self-assessment registrations. HMRC has noted this and is making an effort to get on top of this extra administration by increasing the resources dedicated to clearing the unprocessed repayment claims.
From December 2021, HMRC should have actioned all repayment claims within 30 calendar days of receipt. However, this may not mean that the repayment is issued in this period, as any claims identified as a risk will be suspended and subject to further checks by compliance experts.