HMRC denies running a 'deliberately poor' phone service

HMRC has denied moving a "deliberately poor" telephone work successful an effort to propulsion taxpayers to question assistance online instead.

Nearly 44,000 customers were chopped disconnected without informing aft being connected clasp for much than an hr past year, a study by a committee of MPs found.

It warned HMRC's work had got adjacent worse since past and urged the taxation authorization to instrumentality work for failing its customers.

HMRC main enforcement Jim Harra said the committee's claims connected its lawsuit work were "completely baseless" and added "we've made immense improvements to our work standards, with telephone hold times down by 17 minutes since April past year".

The study comes up of the deadline for self-assessment taxation returns connected 31 January, which could pb to accrued request for help.

HMRC's telephone enactment went dormant connected 43,690 customers who had been waiting 70 minutes to scope an advisor successful the archetypal 11 months of 2023-24, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) study said.

This was due to the fact that HMRC's strategy could not header with the measurement of calls but customers were not warned they were astir to beryllium chopped off, nor were they called back, the study added.

The fig for the fig of callers chopped disconnected was published by the National Audit Office (NAO) successful May past twelvemonth but MPs person highlighted it among fears HMRC was moving down its ain helpline.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, seat of the PAC, said HMRC was "excavating its mode to caller lows" successful its lawsuit work each year.

He added: "Worse, it seems to beryllium degrading its ain services arsenic a substance of policy."

The committee has called for "bold and ambitious leadership" to amended its lawsuit services, and amended tackle taxation strategy maltreatment and unpaid debts.

In 2023-24, HMRC wrote disconnected £5bn successful debts arsenic uncollectable, up from £3.2bn successful 2022-23.

The study called for the authorization to get a amended knowing of the offshore taxation spread – the quality betwixt however overmuch taxation should beryllium paid and what was really paid.

It besides raised concerns implicit decreasing rates of transgression probe and prosecution for tax-related offences.

The recommendations travel aft a bid of criticisms levelled astatine HMRC.

In March past year, it announced its telephone enactment would beryllium closed betwixt April and September, but was forced to reverse its determination wrong 24 hours.

And successful May a study recovered that customers were waiting an mean of astir 23 minutes to get done to an adviser.

Mr Harra, archetypal imperishable caput and main enforcement astatine HMRC, said: "We volition ever beryllium determination to reply the telephone for those who request other help. At the aforesaid time, much than 80 per cent of customers are satisfied with our integer services, with much and much radical utilizing them to rapidly and easy negociate their taxation affairs."