Tax & Accounting News

Tax queries go unanswered

19/04/2010

Over 40% of calls to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) were not answered last year, according to figures published by a parliamentary watchdog.

A report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee revealed that of 100million calls made to the main HMRC helplines in the 2008-9 period, around 40million did not get through. MPs on the committee condemned HMRC’s performance as ‘poor’, and said it should be ‘more ambitious’ in improving its service.

HMRC said that, by next year, it aimed to answer 90% of calls, still short of the industry standard of 95%.

Those who did get though had to wait an average of two minutes before speaking to an adviser, rising to four minutes at peak times. The MPs called for HMRC to reduce the maximum wait to one minute.

The report also urged HMRC to reduce the confusion caused by having 139 separate telephone numbers, and to cut the number of unnecessary calls by making its written material easier to understand.