Earlier this month HMRC published its Annual Report and Accounts 2020/2021 and Charter Annual Report 2020/2021 (the first since the HMRC Charter was relaunched last year). The latest HMRC performance statistics are also available. The National Audit Office has also reported on HMRC’s 2020/21 accounts and the latest report on HMRC stakeholder engagement research 2020/2021 is available in addition to a recent message from HMRC on customer service performance (see below).
Readers are reminded that the Institute regularly discusses HMRC service levels at HMRC forums and you are encouraged to contact us (email: leontia.doran@charteredaccountants.ie) with your feedback at any time.
Despite the pandemic, HMRC collected £608.8 billion in tax revenues in the last financial year – a 4.4% reduction on the previous year but the third highest total on record, and higher than initial forecasts at the start of the pandemic.
HMRC sent the following message which it has asked us to publish as part of the publication of its accounts:-
“We also supported the UK through its transition out of the EU – keeping customs clearance times within target, introducing a 24/7 support service for urgent border issues, processing around 359,000 declarations through our Northern Ireland Trader Support Service and answering more than 70,000 calls on our customs and international trade helpline.
We did this while supporting 11.5 million jobs through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and 2.7 million individuals through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Some of the necessary measures we took to support customers through the pandemic had an impact on our performance in replying to customer letters and forms, and on waiting times on some of our helplines. But we also saw record high customer satisfaction with our digital services of 85.2% on average across the financial year and we increased our webchat capability from 1 million chats in 2019 to 2020 to more than 3 million chats in 2020 to 2021. We also successfully delivered our two busiest peaks of work: tax credits renewals in July and Self Assessment returns in January – and we ensured that vital support such as Child Benefit continued uninterrupted.
The pandemic response has continued to be a major priority for us since April 2021 and the COVID-19 support schemes still ran throughout the first six months of this financial year. At the same time, we have seen more of our traditional demand return - so we have worked to balance the need to deliver priority support alongside our core work as society and the economy begin to return to normal.
Our latest performance figures for July to September 2021, published today, show customer service levels on our helplines and postal services beginning to stabilise, but we have further to go to get back to a pre-pandemic position.
We know that our core purpose as the UK’s tax authority is as important as ever – and many of our customers are still facing serious economic challenges. As we look to the future, we are focused on our vision of being a trusted, modern tax and customs department, supporting businesses and individuals to adapt to a changing economy, while continuing to bring in vital tax revenue for our public services.
Read the full HMRC Annual Report and Accounts or an HTML Performance Overview on GOV.UK.
Read our performance update for 2021 to 2022 Quarter 2.”
HMRC also sent the following message on performance which it has asked us to share with and which has also been posted on the Agent Online Forum:-
“Like most service organisations – even those without additional services to deliver like the Government COVID support schemes and Brexit – we’ve spent the past few months recovering and rebalancing our services as society and the economy begins to normalise.
We are working through the stocks of post that built up over the past year, as we prioritised delivery of the government’s COVID-19 support packages and the UK’s smooth transition from the European Union alongside the essential services that keep the tax system running. We are now beginning to see steady reductions in most of these stocks, and these reductions will continue in the coming months.
We understand the frustrations of customers and agents who are waiting for us to get to their individual enquiry, and we are sorry that we can’t get to everyone more quickly. In addressing our work queues, we’ve been prioritising our efforts where we can protect livelihoods and put money in the pockets of our customer groups in greatest need.
On UTRs…
We are on track to have cleared all outstanding SA Registration requests next month, in good time for the SA deadline at the end of January.
Agents can use their agent credentials to complete the online SA1 on behalf of clients through their Government Gateway account, the turnaround for this service is 10 working days.
If a customer submits their tax return within 3 months and 7 days from the date of the notice to file, they will be not be charged a late filing penalty.
If a customer failed to notify HMRC of their liability by 5 October, they may be liable to a failure to notify penalty. However, no failure to notify penalty will be charged if they make payment by 31 January.
On improvements…
We are working closely with the agent community and their representative bodies to improve some of our delivery methods for the future, making them as effective as we can for agents and individuals alike. As part of this, we are testing developments to our ‘where’s my reply’ tool so agents and customers can get a better idea of when their enquiry will be dealt with, and we are developing digital services to handle P87 and PPI tax claims in future.”
The most recent data on HMRC performance is available at:-
LOADING...