Loyal readers with long memories may recall that way back in
November 2009 HMRC introduced a taxpayers' (HMRC uses the word "customers'") charter.
Moving forward to the present day, on 23 October HMRC published
Your Charter Annual Report: April 2013 - March 2014
which analyses HMRC's performance against a series of KPI's.
In summary the Charter lays out rights and obligations:
Your rights
— what you can expect from us:
•
Respect you
•
Help and support you to get things right
•
Treat you as honest
•
Treat you even-handedly
•
Be professional and act with integrity
•
Tackle people who deliberately break the rules and challenge those who
bend the rules
•
Protect your information and respect your privacy
•
Accept that someone else can represent you
•
Do all we can to keep the cost of dealing with us as low as possible.
Your obligations
— what we expect from you:
•
Be honest
•
Respect our staff
•
Take care to get things right
Lin Homer is quoted in the foreword:
"We achieved our best ever performance during 2013-14, exceeding tax and
compliance revenues compared to the previous year, while continuing to improve
customer service levels and make sustainable cost savings."
She seems very proud, yet further on in her foreword she says that HMRC answered 79% of "customer" calls.
Hardly an outstanding success rate is it?
Ian Young (ICAEW) and Chair of the Charter Advisory Committee then has his say in the document, and is less upbeat:
"..although
the performance in five out of the eight rights has improved compared with
the previous year, in four of these the scores remain below the equivalent
scores from March 2011. This is a cause for concern and the committee will
continue to probe the reasons for this and challenge HMRC over their plans for
improvement.
measures in a
process which began in 2009."
He notes in particular that only 41% of agents feel that HMRC does all it can to keep the cost of dealing with it as low as possible, and only 48% of agents feels that HMRC treats them as honest.
I personally feel that the latter is particularly appalling, as it makes it all but impossible for agents to deal with HMRC other than in a defensive or confrontational way.
Young goes on to issue a "prayer" of hope:
"I hope that all the measures that HMRC are putting in place, which are set out in
this report, will begin to make a real difference to the results of future surveys."
He doesn't sound very confident that this will come to pass!
Anyhoo, enjoy reading the document and feel free to comment.
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
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"
