HMRC leave thousands of callers on hold before ‘deliberately’ cutting them off ...Middle East

MPs have accused HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) of deliberately providing a poor service and damaging public confidence in the tax system.

The influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the taxman “degraded” its own customer help­line phone services, willing and prepared to let them fail, in the hope that people will be forced online.

MPs say that phone access has been restricted before digital services are ready, concluding that HMRC does not consider customers’ needs enough.

In 2023-24, performance reached an all-time low, with 66.4 per cent of customers’ attempts to speak to an adviser answered, against a target of 85 per cent, and average call waiting times exceeding 23 minutes.

The criticism comes as millions have still to fill in their self-assessment tax returns ahead of the deadline for filing them at the end of this month.

MPs said organisations representing taxpayers and agents believe the continual failings in customer service had eroded trust in HMRC.

In the first 11 months of 2023-24, HMRC cut off nearly  43,690 customers who had been waiting 70 minutes to speak to an adviser. Customers were not warned their call would be cut off.

HMRC’s service had got even worse since then and MPs urged the tax authority to take responsibility for failing its customers.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the PAC, said: “Given that citizens have no choice but to engage with HMRC, it has a responsibility to aspire to the highest standards.

“Unfortunately, what we have instead is a tax authority excavating its way to new lows in service levels every year. Worse, it seems to be degrading its own services as a matter of policy. HMRC is an organisation in defensive mode, and needs bold and ambitious leadership to begin to chart its recovery.”

HMRC has denied running a “deliberately poor” phone service in an attempt to push taxpayers to seek help online instead.

Jim Harra, HMRC chief executive, has written to the committee protesting its claims calling them “completely baseless”. He said: “In reality, we’ve made huge improvements to our service standards, with call wait times down by 17 minutes since April last year.

“We will always be there to answer the phone for those who need extra help. At the same time, more than 80 per cent of customers are satisfied with our digital services, with more and more people using them to quickly and easily manage their tax affairs.”

The report also calls on HMRC to set out a plan for how it will collect older debts owed to it before they become uncollectable, expressing concern these are not being effectively pursued.

The HMRC told MPs it is focused on pursuing high levels of new tax debt which are easier to collect. In 2023-24, the taxman wrote off as uncollectable £5bn in debt, up from £3.2bn in 2022-23.

The PAC report said while HMRC’s new goal to reduce rather than maintain the tax gap – the difference between the amount of tax that should be paid to HMRC, and what was actually paid – is welcome, tax officials needed to be “bolder in identifying and tackling abuse.”

The report recommends a better understanding of the offshore tax gap, which MP’s say is currently estimated at an implausibly low £0.3bn. It also raises concerns over decreasing rates of criminal investigation and prosecution, in favour of focusing on the most serious and high-value cases.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( HMRC leave thousands of callers on hold before ‘deliberately’ cutting them off )

Also on site :

• Who Won ‘American Idol’ 2025 Tonight?
• 'S.W.A.T.' Fans Are 'Over The Moon' After Shemar Moore Reveals 'Best News Ever'
• VUZ gets $12M for its immersive video experiences across emerging markets and the U.S.