Tax helpline callers left on hold for nearly eight centuries Appalling service levels at Britain's tax collector meant customers phoning in with inquiries were collectively left on hold for 798 years in fiscal 2023. This is according to the National Audit Office (NAO), which found the time spent waiting in the 12 months to March last year was more than double the time wasted in fiscal …
Mine was ok, though I did wait on hold for. about 30 mins.
Got a helpful and knowledgeable chap.
The only odd thing was ‘your tax overpayment rebate claim was cancelled….It Doesn’t say why’?. That’s why you haven’t received it. Was resubmitted and paid within a week.’.
Funny that.
I've had occasion to call 7 times since the beginning of Dec. Not a single issue could be solved by using the website.
After submitting a reclaim they then sent me a letter telling me I had to fill in a form which was "enclosed" but it wasn't The form isn't downloadable. I called to ask them to resend it, it wasn't sent a second time. Third time I called for this issue I was told the form wasn't needed and I should just write a letter. The fourth time I was told it wasn't even in progress but it would be completed in 6 weeks - I'm still waiting.
Out of the 7 calls only one advisor has given me correct informtion and the rest contradictory or useless.
I'm owed a five figure sum and still trying to get them to admit a mistake from 2019/20, never mind what they owe me from 23/24
Not a single issue could be solved by using the website.
This is the problem with most 'digtal helplines' - they are heavily structured into what someone expects the most likely queries to be, despite the fact that those are the queries where the websites usually do contain the necessary info and forms.
People need to ring helplines when their problem is out of the ordinary and can't be solved on the website, which is exactly when these helplines fall down.
The problem is that it's not an out of the ordinary issue, it's one faced by hundreds of thousand of individuals every year. It was a simple request for repayment of higher rate tax on pension contributions.
There's a convoluted way to tell them you want to reclaim online but there's no way to submit the documentary proof that they require other than by post with accompanying letter. Hence my title, not fit for purpose.
Took the click bait.
798 years ago, 1226 Henry III (or his regent) obtained a tax levy for £40,000 (real pounds then, mind) for his army in his french possessions.
I can imagine some Templar grandmaster on the horn waiting to try and convince HMR&C of his order's tax exempt status*. I imagine the musak being Greensleeves unless Henry VIII did compose it.
Wasn't great year for the Cathars either.
* Taxation was probably one reason 80 years later Philip IV liquidated the order and its members. HMR&C clearly not quite as efficient as Philip.
You are almost as pedantic as me, who when watching Henry V tried to work out quite how many men Westmoreland's famous "Oh, that we now had here, But one ten thousand of those men in England that do no work today" and found out that approximated to 2.6 men.
It is small wonder he later agrees with his cousin, King Hal "Would you and I alone, Without more help, could fight this royal battle!"
In Canada the current statistical drama is about the number of CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) employees.
59,000 for a population of 40 million.
The UK has HMRC with 64,738 for a population of 67 million. The UK seems to be doing better (more efficient, huh.)
The US has IRS with 93,654 for a population of 341 million. OK so way more efficient.
Size of militaries: 68,000 / 130,000 / 2,080,000. See where the priorities lie.
Notwithstanding that the IRS is at the Federal level (i.e. State tax collection headcount is excluded) it would be interesting to see genuine all-encompasing figures because the UK, at least, requires employers to do much of the tax collection work for it. So that very rough 1 tax collector per 1000 head of population is more likely to be nearly 2. Which seems a lot!
Anon because...
At the recent Treasury Committee hearing HMRC did admit that they turned off the help lines a bit too abruptly.
<https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/14682/html/>
Therese Coffey got a bit of a bee in her bonnet about HMRC's call centre staff working from home. So much so she managed to complain that she had visited some HMRC offices **during lockdown** and found no one in the offices. Facepalm! (Scroll down to Q345.)
I was going to post as to how the heck 23 minutes was an *increase* as I remember on the few occasions I needed to talk to HMRC in the past 10 years I typically spent 45+ minutes on hold each time.........then I realised the 23 minutes mentioned is NOT the time spent trying to get hold of HMRC, it is the "typical" time spent talking to someone at HMRC *once* you actually get through to a person.
"the amount of time advisors spend on a call has increased – it was up to 23 minutes in the first 11 months of fiscal 2024"
In general I wouldn't be as concerned in how long people end up speaking to HMRC for but rather how long it takes them to get through to a person in the 1st place.
"The wait times are so long that a mobile phone will drop the call before coming off hold"
I binned the landline for exactly the same reason, the indoor DECT wireless handsets would get a flat battery before HMRC answered. The mobile will last several hours of calling, plus its speakerphone is far superior and it's easy to plug it into a charger if the battery is low. Now on unlimited free UK minutes with Lebara.
After 6 hours waiting (spread over 4-5) calls I said I want to complain. I got an apologetic call the next day. They said can we close the complaint. I said NO nothing has changed.
I got another call with someone more senior who was very helpful.
I asked why they don't have a pareto of calls,the highest call subject get a really good faq and a direct path to email/form for processing. I said if you cover the top 10 common subjects phone calls would be manageable.
The gentlemen noted it down. Will it happen god knows.
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