I lost VAT certificate letter

Dear HMRC, My company based in China, I registered VAT by myself. More than 40 days ago, HMRC told me that my company's VAT number was issued and they sent a letter to my company address in China. But at present, we still have not received the letter. HMRC even not provide me a tracking number, so I do not where my letter is. Due to not knowing anything about my VAT and the effective date, I can not file returns and pay taxes on time. I am confused about why HMRC can not send VAT and effective date via email. It is easy to lost the letter shipping from the UK to China. What should I do in this situation?

HMRC do not send VAT registration certificates by email - this avoids potential for fraud - HMRC only ever send VAT certificates via the post. HMRC do not generally give VAT numbers over the telephone either, but you can call the VAT helpline, advise them that you have not received the VAT certificate/lost in the post, and ask HMRC to send a copy, that copy will be sent to the same address as per your VAT registration. If you do incur a penalty for not filing your first VAT return on time, you are able to appeal this penalty via your government gateway and you can explain the delay as due to postal delays.

Hi,

Pease can you email the registration team to re-issue you with your VAT number again as this has not been received:

vrs.newregistrations@hmrc.gov.uk

Thank you.