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Report calls for bold action to improve HMRC’s customer services
HMRC has denied running a “deliberately poor” telephone service in a bid to encourage taxpayers to seek help online.
Nearly 44,000 customers were cut off without warning after being on hold for more than an hour last year, according to a report by a committee of MPs.
He warned that HMRC’s service had deteriorated further since then and urged the tax office to take responsibility for its customers’ failure.
HMRC chief executive Jim Harra said the committee’s claims about its customer service were “completely unfounded” and added “we have made huge improvements to our service standards, with reduced waiting times 17 minutes since April last year.
The report comes ahead of the Jan. 31 tax filing deadline, which could lead to an increase in demand for aid.
HMRC’s phone line broke down for 43,690 customers waiting 70 minutes to reach an adviser in the first 11 months of 2023-24, according to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report.
Indeed, HMRC’s system could not handle the volume of calls, but customers were not warned that they were about to be interrupted, nor called back, the report adds.
The figure for the number of dropped calls was published by the National Audit Office (NAO) in May last year, but MPs highlighted it amid fears that HMRC could cut its own helpline.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chairman of the PAC, said HMRC was “charging its way to new lows” in its customer service every year.
He added: “Worse still, it appears to be degrading its own services for political reasons.”
“Irrecoverable debts”
The committee called for “bold and ambitious leadership” to improve its customer services and better combat abuse of the tax system and unpaid debts.
In 2023-24, HMRC wrote off £5bn of debt as uncollectible, up from £3.2bn in 2022-23.
The report calls on authorities to better understand the offshore tax gap – the difference between the amount of tax that should be paid and what was actually paid.
He also raised concerns about declining rates of criminal investigations and prosecutions for tax-related offenses.
These recommendations follow a series of criticisms leveled at HMRC.
In March last year it announced its phone line would be closed between April and September, but was forced to reverse its decision within 24 hours.
And in May, a report revealed that customers waited on average nearly 23 minutes to reach an advisor.
Mr Harra, First Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive of HMRC, said: “We will always be here to answer the phone to those who need further help. At the same time, more than 80% of customers are satisfied with our digital services. with more and more people using them to quickly and easily manage their tax affairs. »
