HMRC-is it time to call the Army in?

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This one gets my gold medal at present:

By 0098087
19th Mar 2024 14:05
My wife who does the payroll said WTF!!

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172 comments now:

Harra is guaranteed a knighthood, his reward for failure, must take a special kind of person to run a government agency into the ground and not give two hoots, he has destroyed a respected agency in a few years, all the scammers and fraudsters know HMRC are so useless that scammers can defraud and scam with zero consequences...remember the 11,000 Chinese companies all registered to one bloke in Wales? Harra said this was normal rather than admit they don't have the staff or expertise to stop it.
Like Post Office, they can't accept they are wrong and blame everyone else, you can't change an organisation or radically shift to digital if you can't accept mistakes will be made. HMRC have never admitted any errors....delays are due to covid or too many taxpayers not using online, etc.

Quote of the day:“We must maximise every pound of taxpayers’ money

This from HMRC which has spent £1.3 billion on MTD4IT and don't forget this:

In total, about £1.65bn worth of bounce back loans had been flagged for fraud at the end of June, according to the latest Covid loan figures. The government has so far paid out £1.3bn of that total to banks to cover the lenders' losses.

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HMRC makes U-turn on permanent helpline cuts

By norstar
20th Mar 2024 11:23
I just don't understand how the likes of Mr Harra and Ms MacDonald continue to run an organisation that badly yet keep their jobs. How can you roll this closure out "without having engaged stakeholders" first. How much more do they need to make a mess of before they go?! MTD overbudget by a billion, delayed and now this. Incompetent and out of touch.

By JCresswellTax
20th Mar 2024 11:25
Absolute clueless idiots!

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By Tax Taunton
20th Mar 2024 11:32
Parties and breweries spring to mind. In this instance it is sad that HMRC think they can ride roughshod over taxpayers and get away with it. In my opinion if HMRC engaged with tax payers in a meaningful and understanding way, the tax take ould increase significantly. The current punitive regime with lack of dialogue between HMRC and the taxpayer only leads to greater appetite for evading tax. As I write, I am on hold to the ADL (55 minutes so far...) chasing a 2021-22 CIS refund that we were promised would be resolved in September last year. I suspect a caseworker hasn't even been appointed yet.

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By Tornado
20th Mar 2024 11:57
It is truly unbelievable that supposedly intelligent people are in charge of running HMRC.

Even an idiot could have worked out that a helpline needs to be available virtually all of the time, and anyone who has tried to use the so called HMRC online help services knows that they simply do not work.

The answer is to provide real people with proper training at the end of a phone line, available every day with the resources to answer calls and provide competent answers to questions asked.

In particular, HMRC should already be working on the provision of special helplines for MTD enquiries to handle the explosion of enquiries by people who have no idea how to use 'Digital Software' and often just need to be told how to turn the computer on to get going.

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By Retrocanary
20th Mar 2024 15:14
"the public appetite for managing their tax affairs online” - sorry, but does the phone constantly ringing off the hook not indicate there's also a huge remaining public appetite to manage their tax affairs by phone?

So flipping obvious, but I'm still not sure Old MacDonald and Sir Jim get it.

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I've received a copy of an HMRC letter dated 14 March responding to my complaint on 3 November....so HMRC's complaints department are operating on a 4 1/2 month turnaround....flipping useless. And this is all avoidable because if some of the £1.3 billion spent on MTD4IT had been spent where it is currently required we wouldn't have this thread.

I think it is time for Mr Hunt to:

- put a stop to any further spending on the MTD4IT project;

- tell Sir Jim to sort current services out to an acceptable level before thinking of approaching the subject again.

This thread tomorrow will be 3 years old so it is not as though services have only just got worse.

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Surely time for Jeremy to tell Sir Jim to either provide a semblance of a service or retire...how long does this continue unchecked?

By taxdigital
04th Apr 2024 10:01
That’s all good. But when do we expect them to pick up the phones please?



Replying to taxdigital:

By Ned Ludd
04th Apr 2024 10:34
Currently been on hold 1 hour and 2 minutes

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Nuts, bananas, why is he still in charge?

HMRC went bananas last week, attempting to destroy its helpline services and then changing its mind. Philip Fisher rues the fact that the spectacular overnight U-turn won’t mean the service will get any better.

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I get the feeling if Sir Jim was on his way to get a hair cut and he passed someone requiring CPR he would prioritise his haircut.

4 of the 5 examples of HMRC's rubbish service that I highlighted over a month ago are still not dealt with. Why does HMRC continue to deal with new post before old?

5 examples that might explain why HMRC are drowning in chasing calls from agents and their 'customers'

i) letter sent to HMRC on 3 July 2023...letter received but no reply despite a few chasing calls (55 week wait time is to be expected).
ii) 64-8 submitted 31 October 2023....received but not actioned by HMRC.
iii) 64-8 submitted 10 November 2023.....received but not actioned by HMRC.
iv) 2022/23 tax return submitted 3 December 2023....still not showing correct tax due.
v) 2022/23 tax return submitted 27 January 2024....still not showing correct tax due.