UK Business - Or How the UK Goverment is Hell Bent on Crippling It

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A sales order received from an Indian company requires me to supply a corporate certificate of residence. I applied for this three weeks ago through the UK Government corporate tax website. I received an email confirming that my application had been received, with the following reference number:

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You have submitted a certificate of residence application
Dear Michael Paul Ellis

We have received your certificate of residence application.

Your submission reference is: XXXX-YYYY-00Z0

Once we have processed your application, we will send the certificates to you in the post.

Why you are receiving this email
We send a confirmation email for a notification submitted online.

From the Corporation Tax Services team

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Days and weeks go by, and my client is waiting.

My client emails me:

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Dear Michael,

We have checked with our tax consultant, and in case of non-availability of a TRC, payment will be made after a 20–25% deduction, approximately, as per government norms.

Kindly confirm so that we can make payment.

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I attempt by every means possible, email, web forms and finally phone, to contact them, only to be told, (after endless press 1 for... press 2 for...) “Unless your application is more than thirty days old, we will not help you.” and for them to hang up.

I reply to my Indian client:

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Dear xxxxx,

I am not sure what government norms you are referring to, but I assure you that our company norm is for invoices to be settled in full.

However, under the circumstances, my frustration is directed more at the UK government office. I have just attempted to contact them through several channels, including email, web forms and finally by phone, only to be informed that they will not speak to me unless my certificate of residence application is more than thirty days old.

It seems that at every turn the UK establishment, especially since Brexit, wishes to make business, particularly for small UK companies, as difficult as possible.

In this instance, I am sending you a revised invoice with a 20% reduction.

Sincerely yours,
Michael Ellis