A report published by a committee of MPs revealed that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) cut off nearly 44,000 customers who had been on hold for more than an hour without warning last year. The report has called for action to be taken to improve the UK tax authority’s customer services. HMRC has denied running a “deliberately poor” phone service to push taxpayers to seek online help instead. HMRC chief executive, Jim Harra, said the claim that HMRC had produced poor customer services was “completely baseless”.
The report was published ahead of the deadline for self-assessment tax returns on 31 January, which could lead to increased demand for help. The report stated HMRC’s phone line went dead on 43,690 customers who had been waiting a total of 70 minutes to reach an adviser during the first 11 months of 2023-24. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report said that HMRC’s system was unable to cope with the volume of calls but customers had not been warned they were close to being cut off and were not called back.
The PAC is urging HM Revenue and Customs to take responsibility for failing its customers and for “bold and ambitious leadership” to improve customer services, as well as better tackling tax system abuse and unpaid debts. The report called for the authority to understand the offshore tax gap and highlighted decreasing rates of criminal investigation and prosecution for tax-related offences.
In 2023-24, HMRC wrote off £5bn of debts as uncollectable, up from £3.2bn in 2022-23. Last May, a report found that customers were waiting around 23 minutes to reach an adviser. After receiving a series of criticisms levelled at the UK tax authority, it announced that its phone line would be closed between April and September. It was, however, forced to reverse its decision within 24 hours
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