HMRC-is it time to call the Army in?

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Sarah Vine this morning said something along the lines of.... people just want the Government to govern and make things work. HMRC hasn't worked for sooooo long.They publish stats which actually make things worse as older post is left in a backwater and HMRC move on and chase the next month's target

Get back to the old style reporting where if post is too old 'leaders' get a bollocking. How many HMRC leaders have avoided that elephant in the room over the past decade?

If there is any unanswered post 12 months after it was received, HMRC is failing. I'd make it a sackable offence for the top brass..you would soon discover behaviour change with that brief. You could then reduce the unstretching 12 month target to 6 months etc.

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My reaction to the below...WTF is going on?

By possep
30th Apr 2026 17:20
That may indeed happen. They will be swamped at some point. Take 1-2 years to reply to correspondence at present.

I put a date of a month ago into where is my reply:

You can expect a reply by
15 February 2027
This date is an estimate and may change.

More information
We are currently processing claims received on 25 June 2025.

Please do not contact us until after 15 February 2027.

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When will HMRC sort out their own house?....clearly the distraction of MTD4IT is not helping service levels.


HMRC need 8 months to respond to a letter?
HMRC amended my client's tax calculation and need 8 months to explain why

I submitted my client's 2024/25 tax return in October 2025, claiming a repayment of over £2,000. HMRC decided to reduce this to £1,800 for some penalties they had already agreed to cancel. I queried this and they agreed those penalties should be removed and the full repayment issued. In November, HMRC amended the 2023/24 tax calculation without issuing a calculation and used the entire 2024/25 repayment to cover their newly created tax liability. When I queried this, they claimed the PAYE department had not updated their records for the removal of the self-assessment penalties, but not to worry as SA would speak to PAYE and the repayment will be issued. I should watch the HMRC client record daily, for it would be sure to update very soon! By February, still no updated record and still no repayment. HMRC changes track, saying there is a debt restriction in 2023/24 with abbreviations attached to it that the SA team doesn't use, so the Agent Helpline can no longer help me. I must write to HMRC asking for a technician to review the client's record for both 2023/24 and 2024/25 to find out what's going on. Today, 20 May, more than three months since I sent the letter I was asked to write, I have been told there is a small backlog and I will hopefully receive a response by 10 October. 8 months to respond to my letter. Is this the new normal? How do I tell my client this after all the HMRC excuses I've given him previously? He has been ill for quite some time and needs that tax repayment, for which he will have been waiting a whole year by the time HMRC responds - if, indeed, they do. Sorry, this is a rant more than a query. I feel like this time they've kicked the ball into the really long grass to get rid of the problem for as long as possible, because they haven't a clue what's going on or how to resolve the query.

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Someone needs to kick the bot up the bum .

By JoBee2011
22nd May 2026 13:11
Tell me about it! You feel helpless and it's so annoying that HMRC are effectively hiding behind the accountant, who is the one who has to communicate to the client that they have no idea when their tax repayment will arrive.

I haven't been able to speak to an actual human agent on the webchat for ages, there are never any available. The bot is worse than useless.

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HMRC can't give us a straight answer about missing clients.

We are a small firm, with maybe 100-150 clients. Now we know that we don’t have them all on our agent site from HMRC. However, we know the ones who aren't on, have reasons and situations that we're handling.

However recently 20 clients have "disappeared" off our self-assessment list. One or two we could understand, however 20!!?

Typically, a couple of them are due refunds, so when we called up to ask HMRC about those clients and their refunds, we were told varying stories. From; the client isn't authorised with you, to the client needs to submit a paper return, to the client needs to call up and ask themselves (even though we have authorisation for that client)

The list was endless of excuses. But the clients have not moved accountants, nor have they heard anything from HMRC directly about potential paper returns or anything.

It's getting frustrating from our point of view as we don't necessarily have the time to call up 20 times to HMRC to ask about each individual client and then find out what to do next. (because we know we're not allowed to have different clients on the same phone call)

We tried to contact the agent maintainer team, and they shrugged us off to online services who said it was an self-assessment issue.

We can't get a straight answer, nor can we complain without getting hung up on.

My question is:

1. Has anyone else had something similar happen, if yes, how did you fix is?

2. can anyone suggest what to do as trying to fix this issue is taking away from our working time.

Replying to Pavilionaire:

By FactChecker
10th Jun 2026 18:36
It's possible it was user (client) error, but far more likely that some HMRC systems have a specific type of bug - known in some quarters as 'a moth infestation' (because the structural integrity doesn't appear to have collapsed, but little bits of material simply disappear at random times).

In fact this problem is usually initiated by a human, typically those who are tasked with preventing this happening!

I've just spent a (distinctly not) 'interesting' hour getting the RSPB to understand that their 'shoppers' database was right royally screwed ... the clue being that I could still login but couldn't place any order (because all my profile details were scrambled - viz Mr OTHER A N OTHER and so on).
At first they denied there was any problem / then said it must just be my account, which they couldn't fix but they could create a new one.
After explaining why that wasn't a good idea ('that's not a solution if both accounts share the same email/user login' and 'what happens to my loyalty points') ... I finally managed to get them to understand that my record was still there - the problem was obviously corruption in some key fields that prevented their ordering system from recognising it as valid.
And after a further couple of hours of research (basically interrogating their system logs and 3rd-party software provider's technical staff), it transpired that:
- the 3rd-party had attempted to 'clean' the database by 'deleting' those who hadn't placed an order for 2 years;
- BUT the person doing it had omitted that latter condition (thereby 'deleting' the majority of records before anyone noticed);
- the only good news being the 'deleted' records weren't actually deleted - instead they simply had key values overwritten (e.g. A N OTHER) to make them invisible!

I won't bore you (further) with all the subsequent steps that I had to explain to them (about a piece of software that I've never seen) ... but the net result is that:
* I've got my original account (with full history) back again;
* their support staff have been given the true story (and told to stop fobbing callers off with any old made-up story);
* there's an emergency 'team' beavering away to find and repair all the corrupted records.
[there may also be some poor sod who is no longer employed by the 3rd-party]

The slight relevance of this is that HMRC are never, in my experience, willing to engage at the level I managed to reach quickly within the RSPB ... so IF there IS an underlying issue (technical or human) at their end, it tends to linger for months or years.

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If the Army is called in, the reservists may be receiving tax free pay assuming Labour keep cocking things up.

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A two year wait....and nobody takes any action when stories like this emerge. Labour/HMRC are not working.


End of my tether with HMRC
I submitted an overpayment relief claim for a client in March 2025, processing date 23 April 2027!

By Open all hours
11th Aug 2026 15:06
Feels to me that they are a demoralised organisation who take out their frustration on the customer. That and a complete lack of empathy or leadership. How would they feel if we wrote and said we’ll have an answer for them but not for many months?
How long would you expect your clients to stick around with that attitude.
Professional standards and personal responsibility have gone.
People laugh at the old days but many things got done much more efficiently because there was more pride and respect (for self and others).
Had a client in last week who mentioned his daughter - a 31 year old teacher. She rarely talks about the joy of teaching, the pupils, their progress, her main topic is the pension entitlement. 31 going on 60. I suspect that is a widespread attitude throughout the public sector and this leaves you and me with serious questions.

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There could be trouble ahead:

Reform proposes £30 tax rebate for HMRC phone delays

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A tax system that is far too complicated and the problem of continually rewarding shit work with gongs....why stretch yourself when you can do eff all and become a Sir or a Dame?

Five years after HMRC first acknowledged a flaw in its P800 calculations, some taxpayers may still be paying too much tax. Amy Good-Chin looks at why the problem persists and what accountants should be checking.

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FFS-HMRC..no comprehension of 'customer service' or appreciation of the sanity issues dealing with 5 cases at the same time will cause staff. Sack the Board!

HMRC Webchat
Having trouble getting client's repayment, £4k sitting there and nothing happening!

Went on to Google as usual to find out what the latest procedure was for getting HMRC to refund overpayment. Used the time frame tool on their website which said repayment should have been 27/08/26. So then asked how to contacr HMRC and a phone call advised you cannot ask for repayment by this method you should use WebChat. OK so yesterday at 11.50 am I signed into same and was advised I am number 39 in the queue. At approximately 12.20 I was connected to an agent, who advised me he/she was simultaneously dealing with 5 other cases. Presumably HMRC are using the German Discount Supermarket model of staffing on their WebChat.

Well to cut a long story short after giving full detail of client's then full details of my practise I was advised that I had failed security and communication had ended at 12.30. In the last 10 mins the window cleaner had arrived and my dog was barking and chasing round the house. I was livid.

It was at this moment I went into FORMAL COMPLAINT mode. To my surprise I could do this online, which I did. Lets hope we can get the job done. Have to wait 15 days though. But I have kept pdf's of both complaint and WebChat