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The number of customers complaining about HMRC delays jumped 65% last year to 35,000, up from 21,000 in the previous year, according to new data obtained by UHY Hacker Young.
The surge in complaints has led to HMRC paying compensation to thousands of customers. Customers successfully claimed compensation from the tax authority for a range of issues including costs incurred from waiting on the phone. HMRC also paid compensation to customers who paid excess tax as a result of missing tax deadlines due to delayed responses.
The data also shows that HMRC paid £718,000 to customers complaining about delays in 2022/23, up 94% from the £371,000 in 2021/22. The number of customers complaining about delays who received compensation from the tax authority similarly rose 90% to 4,742 last year, up from 2,490 the year before.
HMRC was recently forced to abandon its plan to close its self-assessment helpline for six months after taxpayer uproar. The phone line scandal added to mounting anger over HMRC’s ongoing customer service crisis. HMRC’s own figures showing that average customer wait times for calls had doubled in the past two years to over 25 minutes.
Graham Boar, partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: “HMRC’s customer service crisis is the worst it’s ever been. The poor quality of service is incredibly damaging for individuals and small businesses.
“It takes a very long time to get through to anyone – and if you’re lucky enough to reach someone they’re rarely the relevant expert. HMRC is severely under-resourced and needs more funding to deliver the service customers deserve. Complaints are mounting. The new Government needs to properly invest in HMRC and its customer service functions and not just in its tax investigation side.”
Boar explained that HMRC responses to customer queries are slow and often full of errors. This is costly as well as time-consuming for customers to deal with, which he argues is disincentivizing customers from trying to resolve issues with the tax authority.
Boar concluded: “Successfully getting meaningful compensation from HMRC for a delay is a very admin-intensive process. Many customers simply give up trying to secure the compensation they deserve.”
