Popular helplines to be severely restricted permanently
It's now been confirmed that HMRC staff will be permanently diverted away from the self-assessment helpline meaning more blackout periods. What’s the full story?
HMRC’s cuts to frontline services is to continue, following several trials in 2023 when staff were temporarily reallocated elsewhere to help with processing backlogs. The moves were received negatively, with many believed to have felt unable to file their returns in the absence of being able to check technical queries. Today, the government has announced that there will be permanent closure periods going forward, calling last year’s trial “successful”. And it’s not just self-assessment that will be affected. This year:
- between April and September, the Self-Assessment helpline will be closed and customers will be directed to self-serve through HMRC’s online services
- between October and March the Self-Assessment helpline will be open to deal with priority queries - customers with queries that can be quickly and easily resolved online will be directed to HMRC’s online services
- the VAT helpline will be open for five days every month ahead of the deadline for filing VAT returns - outside of this time, customers will be directed to use HMRC’s online services
- the PAYE helpline will no longer take calls from customers relating to refunds - customers will be directed to use HMRC’s online services.
The CIOT has criticised the move, particularly in light of the Public Accounts Committee’s criticism of the standard of HMRC’s service, calling the move a “blinding light” that HMRC can’t cope.
Related Topics
-
Should you voluntarily payroll benefits in kind?
The window to sign up to voluntarily payroll non-mandatory benefits in kind for 2027/28 will open in November. Is it worth volunteering to pay HMRC earlier than required or should you wait until it becomes mandatory in 2028/29?
-
Wise tax statement errors could affect 4,000 customers
Around 4,000 UK customers of financial services provider Wise have been told that tax statements issued between 2021 and 2025 contained incorrect figures. The errors could have resulted in taxpayers paying too much or too little income tax and capital gains tax (CGT). What should affected customers check?
-
CT61