Taxpayers Pay £33M To Phone HMRC

As loyal readers know the subject of phoning HMRC is often discussed on this site, as is the cost to the taxpayer of hanging on the phone.

Kudos to the National Audit Office (NAO) for attempting to estimate how much this actually costs the taxpayer.

Their estimate?

£33M!

The NAO estimates that a total of £33M was incurred in call charges by members of the public waiting in phone queues during 2011/12, part of the reason being that most of HMRC’s numbers have the high-charge 0845 prefix (as has been noted many times before on this site).

The NAO have today published a report, Customer Service Performance, which notes that HMRC received 79M calls and answered 74% of them in 2011/12, exceeding a provisional target of 58%. However, as the NAO state, HMRC doesn't exactly have high aspirations:

"HMRC’s service targets are lower and cover fewer areas than those of other organisations."

However, despite these low aspirations, the service level was unsatisfactory; as can be seen from the headline figure above approximately 20M calls went unanswered. Those who did manage to get through had to wait on average 282 seconds before being put through to an adviser.

Oh and by the way, in addition to the taxpayer having to spend £33M on phone bills, taxpayers are also estimated to have wasted £103M of their own time hanging on the telephone waiting for HMRC to answer the phone.

As the report succinctly puts it (annoyingly the "C" word is used):

"HM Revenue & Customs’ ‘customers’ (taxpayers and claimants) do not have a choice about whether they interact with HMRC. This obliges HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to ensure that customers get a good service. Good service also makes economic sense, as poor service imposes costs on HMRC and its customers."

The report concludes:

"HMRC’s customer service arrangements still represent poor value for money for customers."

Special note should be taken of the following:

"If it enters into contracts where service providers get a share of call revenues, it should insist on open-book accounting and transparent arrangements for sharing benefits."

Let's see how that goes then!

Tax does have to be taxing.

Professional Cover Against the Threat of Costly TAX and VAT Investigations

Insurance to protect you against the cost of enquiry or dispute with HMRC is available from several sources including Solar Tax Investigation Insurance.

Ken Frost has negotiated a 10% discount on any polices that may suit your needs.

However, neither Ken Frost nor HMRCISSHITE either endorses or recommends their services.

What is Solar Tax Investigation Insurance?

Solar Tax Investigation Insurance is a tax-fee protection service that will pay up to £75,000 towards your accountant's fees in the event of an HM Revenue & Customs full enquiry or dispute.

To find out more, please use this link Solar Tax Investigation Insurance



Tax Investigation for Dummies, by Nick Morgan, provides a good and easy to read guide for anyone caught up in an HMRC tax investigation. A must read for any Self Assessment taxpayer.

Click the link to read about: Tax Investigation for Dummies

HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"