Recently the HMRC chairman met with the accountancy bodies to discuss ‘HMRC service delivery’. HMRC, like all public bodies, compile statistics to show how well they’re doing. The chairman said they’ve improved the time taken to answer post. He acknowledged that his stats are not always ‘reflected in the actual experience of taxpayers and agents’. To put it another way, if you’re still waiting for a tax refund or a reply to a query, the numbers seem a bit hollow.
The good news is that the taxman seems to be committed to making things better – the department is running a project where tax agents spend time in HMRC offices and make suggestions, and HMRC staff spend time in accountants’ offices to better understand the frustrations of hanging on our end of the phone. They’ve promised to make the results public and explain the action they’ll take as a result.
One recent service problem seems to belong in the world of comedy. HMRC send out statements of account in July to remind people of what they owe under self-assessment on 31 July. This year they admitted in early August that they hadn’t managed to despatch half a million statements in time for taxpayers to pay by the deadline. They said the number of forms they were supposed to send had ‘risen out of all proportion to previous patterns’ – but why couldn’t they see that coming, as it must be based on the tax returns they received up to January? It’s been suggested that they didn’t order enough paper. If your statement didn’t arrive until August, they’ve agreed to waive interest up to 27 September.
While the taxman checks the stationery cupboard and looks for ways to improve the service, we will carry on working to help you pay the right tax at the right time, and keep you informed about ways to save time, trouble and money. This newsletter describes some of the latest news on tax. If any of it strikes a chord with you, please get in touch.
The HMRC statement on service delivery is at www.hmrc.gov.uk/news/agent-joint-statement.pdf. The information about late statements of account is at www.hmrc.gov.uk/news/delay-sa-statements.htm.
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