As the self-assessment tax deadline looms, here’s what the new HMRC Customer Charter means for you and your clients

HMRC has long has a customer charter, but its focus and terminology has always been on “expectations” and “obligations”, taking a very hard-line approach to the behaviours HMRC expect you to exhibit and the standards that it will offer in return. Following an extensive seven-month consultation in which stakeholders including The Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA) submitted evidence, HMRC has now published its brand-new customer charter, a marked improvement on the version of old.