Taxpayers spend total of 800 years waiting to speak to HMRC

WRLO Accountants — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 19:36:33 +0000

UK taxpayers spent the equivalent of 800 years on hold to HMRC in 2022/23, according to a report published by the National Audit Office (NAO). The report found that funding pressures, job cuts and a push to reduce costs by encouraging people to manage their tax affairs online had all led to a poor call-handling performance by HMRC. The average time spent waiting on the phone to speak to an adviser in the 11 months to February 2024 was almost 23 minutes – well above the five minutes recorded in 2018/19. Altogether taxpayers spent 7 million hours, or 798 years, on hold to HMRC in 2022/23, according to the report. Customer service is in a ‘declining spiral’ at HMRC, which had not met its goals for responding to taxpayer correspondence or telephone calls for several years, the NAO added. The government has recently announced an extra £51 million in funding to help HMRC improve its telephone helplines. Gareth Davies, Head of the NAO, said: ‘HMRC’s telephone and correspondence services have been below its target service levels for too long. ‘While many of its digital services work well, they have not made enough of a difference to customers, some of whom […]

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HMRC gives £1.8 million a year to charities to help excluded taxpayers

WRLO Accountants — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 17:50:50 +0000

The voluntary and community sector will be able to apply for grants from HMRC to support their work with taxpayers who need extra assistance with their tax affairs. Eligible organisations need to bid for the funding, worth £1.8 million a year from 2024 until 2027, up from the current annual grant of £1.66 million, through HMRC’s voluntary and community sector grant funding programme. Bids can be submitted between 24 July and 21 August 2023, with successful organisations being announced in October, ready for the new funding to start from 1 April 2024. This is the 12th round of funding HMRC is awarding as ‘part of its commitment to help everyone get their tax right’. The programme has been ongoing for over a decade and previous beneficiaries included Citizens Advice Bureaus, TaxAid, Tax Help for Older People and Gingerbread. To be eligible for grant funding from HMRC, an organisation must be a registered charity, voluntary and community sector organisation, social enterprise, mutual or a co-operative. RNIB’s Sight Loss Advice Service is one of 12 organisations previously awarded under the grant programme. Director David Newbold said: ‘RNIB is extremely grateful to HMRC for its generous support, ensuring blind and partially sighted people […]

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Taxpayers spend total of 800 years waiting to speak to HMRC

HMRC gives £1.8 million a year to charities to help excluded taxpayers