Over the festive period, social media websites were filled with taxpayers being put on hold for long periods of time or in some instances cut off whilst trying to contact HMRC’s helpline.
The justification given to the taxpayers being cut off was because “the lines were busy”. With people taking the correct steps to ensure that they correctly complete their self-assessment tax return before the 31st January deadline will not be satisfied with HMRC’s justification.
HMRC was criticised during a meeting in July for costing callers £136m a year by not answering calls. This is after £900m was spent on improving customer services.
An overwhelming opinion is that a major governing body such as HMRC should be able to service their clients easily.
For a long time taxpayers have shown disdain as to how difficult it is to actually contact HMRC. Over 2014 figures show that 74.5% of calls to HMRC were answered which does not meet the set target of 80%. Though a major government organisation should endeavour to answer more than 80% of the calls they receive. A taxpayer should be able to contact HMRC’s helpline and get the advice they need. Surely that is the whole point of a helpline?
It must be within their capabilities, after all, we know HMRC are very readily available to act when they suspect that a taxpayer has not paid enough tax.
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