Half of calls to the taxman don't get answered

HMRC admitted yesterday that up to half of all the calls to the taxman never get answered. Chief Executive Lin Homer told MPs that in the first six months of 2015, the answer rate had 'dipped towards' 50%.

She told the Public Accounts Committee that a new telephone system had been bedding in, and that answer rates had been improving."I don't think the overall trend is worsening," she said: "We have already apologised for what we see as a failure in our performance at the end of last year, and the first couple of months of this year."

A spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the 50% rate would only have applied on exceptionally busy days, and that 3,000 additional staff members had been recruited, so call answering rates were improving.

Waiting

The news came on the back of findings that infuriated taxpayers are waiting an average of 47 minutes to have their calls answered by HMRC. While official figures suggest an average wait of 10 minutes, new research from Citizens Advice shows many people are waiting longer. One person tweeted that they'd tried to get through to HMRC on four occasions - and waited an hour for an answer each time.
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The long wait means that many people risk missing the deadline for filing a self-assessment tax return, potentially incurring a fine. Other callers may be attempting to update information relating to tax credit claims; failure to do so could mean they end up being under- or over-paid - which can cause debts further down the line.

HMRC phone lines are 0300 numbers, meaning that calls are charged at the same rate as a standard landline call, and could be included in some phone package's free minutes. However, a 47-minute wait can still cost £4.66.

As you'd expect, the peak months for complaints were January 2015, when income tax self assessments were due by the end of the month, along with June and July, in the run up to the 31 July deadline for tax credit renewals.

And the charity is warning that the roll-out of Universal Credit and changes to tax credits could mean that waiting times could go up even further.

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