HMRC helpline has reached ‘critical point’, says ICAEW

The restrictions HMRC has put in place for its Agent Dedicated Line (ADL) have been criticised by the ICAEW. Caroline Miskin, the ICAEW’s senior technical manager of digital taxation, says the body had hoped its team would be consulted about the restrictions before they were finalised.

From April 17 till June 2, HMRC will restrict its ADL to only deal with queries on self-assessment penalties and PAYE coding notices.

Miskin says the cases prioritised by the ADL do not align with her recommendations.

“We can understand tax codes being restricted because of the time of year […] but penalties we don’t, and I have confirmed this with our members as most of them don’t phone HMRC about penalties, they will make their appeals in writing” she notes.

Additionally, HMRC has asked agents to use its online services. However, Miskin says many agents are unable to access parts of the online services, and members have claimed the online tools are “inadequate.”

Richard West, Director of Personal Tax Operations at HMRC, said: “It’s particularly important at the start of the tax year that we reserve capacity to support agents who need one-to-one help with enquiries they have about Self Assessment late filing penalties and PAYE coding notices issued in 2023/24, and that’s what these changes will achieve.”

“We encourage agents and customers to use our online services, which are quick and easy to use.”

West stated the alterations to the ADL were applied so HMRC can provide the best possible service to all customers at one of its busiest times.

The criticism comes weeks after an open letter was addressed to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt on 1 March. The ICAEW, ACCA, AAT, and several others warned of the severe disruption faced by taxpayers and businesses as a result of the Revenue’s dwindling service levels.

Concern for taxpayers

Miskin is “extremely concerned” for taxpayers and ICAEW members because of the amount of time wasted trying to deal with their tax affairs.

“It’s a very real problem for accounting firms, and it’s a huge admin burden which is not good for the economy or for growth.

“It really has reached a critical point that people are waiting for hours and hours to get through to help lines and then just not being productive,” she adds.

‘No action’ so far by HMRC

Following several calls from industry bodies for HMRC to improve its service line, notably a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report published in January, which stated that improvement of HMRC’s customer service will become far more challenging as inflationary pressures affect the tax body.

HMRC held a stakeholder conference in February to listen to recommendations to enhance its current offering.

So far, Miskin states they have seen no action from HMRC following these talks, but the ICAEW is awaiting HMRC’s response to the PAC.

Single customer account could offer improvement

Miskin argues that there are several ‘quick wins’ HMRC could implement, such as allowing access to agents for certain online services like tax codes and penalties.

HMRC’s single customer account, which is expected to be in place by June 2025 is an “exciting” proposition, Miskin admits.

“I do think it [single customer account] will offer significant improvement in the long run because at the moment, we have a lot of different digital services that have been poorly patched together to cover different things.

“But we haven’t got a coherent digital service that covers everything to do with income tax or anything else.”

Miskin believes the customer accounts will help join together all these different components for taxpayers at the least, but it may not necessarily help for agents as well.