HMRC-is it time to call the Army in?

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Rebecca Cave's quotes below...does that make Sir Jim an enshittifier?

That dictionary defines enshittification as: “The gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.”

I believe this is what we are seeing with the UK tax service.

Last year I noted the creeping cost of tax compliance as the free online filing services provided by HMRC are gradually restricted or completely withdrawn. I asked for a debate on the important issue of who should be entitled to use free ;ompliance software and who must pay to file.

That debate has not happened.

However, HMRC continues to remove and restrict its free online filing services to make space for commercial providers to sell software to those customers who have no choice but to pay to file, or pay a penalty.

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Meeting on 6 March...Sir Jim's last public appearance in front of those asking the questions:

Q28 Lloyd Hatton: You currently calculate that the cost of customer time is £18.66 per hour. That is three years out of date now, so can we expect that to be to be refreshed to reflect how much time it might cost an individual to administer their own tax?

Lucy Pink: That is an internal calculator that sometimes helps us give a bit of an understanding.

Q29 Lloyd Hatton: If it is three years out of date, you can appreciate why an individual might think that the HMRC perhaps has a slightly distorted understanding of how much time people spend administering their tax.

Lucy Pink: As recommended by the NAO, we are going to look into the feasibility of what we can do to try to give up-to-date cumulative assessments regarding individuals. When we publish our tax information and impact notes, we try to give qualitative assessments. As I say, we do have an up-to-date understanding of wider individuals’ experience, and that is where we focus our attention. Our feedback from individuals is that that is where they want to make us look in terms of where their pain points are with the overall administrative system in general.

Q30 Lloyd Hatton: If I could press a bit further there, we have touched on this previously when you have come before this Committee. In total, taxpayers spent 719 years on hold to HMRC in the past year, so you can understand why, if an individual watching this today sees that the internal figure that you use is three years out of date, they might say, “This is why HMRC has a slightly distorted understanding of how much time, money and energy is wasted by an individual on administering their tax”.

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By rander
12th Aug 2025 16:49
Can they not just get experienced staff back to the office assuming there are any experienced staff left. Prior to covid it was easy to contact agent dedicated helpline and it worked very well. I am virtually retired now so have every sympathy with you all.

Back in 1984, HMRC were not perfect but they did answer calls with minimal delay. They didn't have computer generated income tax computations and so each case presumably took a lot longer to process on an annual basis. So why with all the available technology are HMRC so much worse?

I would put forward as a starter for 10, the seriously crap decorated leaders who have managed/are managing the department..if they are understaffed they need to tell MP Murray...if they are inefficient they need to sort out that inefficiency..perhaps listening to rander might be a start. My local chemist /doctor are similarly crap dealing with a simple prescription as were Tesco Clubcard yesterday....their system couldn't cope with my order, they didn't tell me and when I told them they said I had to re-order. I asked for my case to be escalated and only then did the member of staff volunteer to re-order for me. To accomplish any task just seems to be a huge effort post Covid.

If this fog continues to linger over our country there will soon be no-one left who remembers how things use to be.

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used to be

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Another pile of HMRC steaming shit..perhaps another MP Murray thorough investigation is required...regular readers will recognise the lose registered post....cut the customer off techniques still in operation...and don't forget HMRC's leadership think they are world class:

As accountants fight to get their addresses updated, HMRC’s failure to address the issue is wasting agents’ time and causing unnecessary problems.

11th Jul 2025
20 comments
Despite the push to get accountants and clients fully digital, HMRC still relies on written forms of communication that are causing issues for agents when paired with HMRC’s slow service.

One issue that keeps coming up is how difficult it is to change an agent’s address. It sounds like a simple task, but in reality, it’s a slow and confusing process that often leads to security concerns, missed information and wasted time chasing updates.

The problem was raised on Any Answers, where one member, Archie-Bald, shared their experience of trying to update addresses for their pay as you earn (PAYE) clients.

They said, “I’ve received no response so I phoned this morning and the person I spoke to had absolutely no idea what needed to be done.

“He couldn’t find our letter (which was sent by Special Delivery and Royal Mail shows it as being delivered) and could not tell me the process that needed to be followed. I waited on hold for 45 minutes, got nowhere and when he couldn't answer my questions, he cut me off.”

Other accountants shared similar stories, showing it’s part of a wider pattern of poor communication that leaves agents in the dark and their clients at risk.

A frequently posted problem
The Any Answers community were quick to rally behind Archie-Bald as they discussed that they had in fact experienced the same issue of not being able to get their agent address changed.

One member, BirdnCo, had a forgiving postman who made the issue less time-consuming.

“We are lucky as our local postman knew us and dropped everything into our new address. All correspondence we received from HMRC addressed to the old one, we took copies for our file and sent the original ones back as ‘undelivered, not known at this address’. Eventually, we started to receive correspondence addressed correctly,” they wrote.

However, others haven’t been so lucky. Whyowhy had moved addresses a whopping 10 years ago and HMRC still hasn’t updated it.

“I have written and phoned countless times, and there has been no resolution. The old address still gets mail for my clients.

“It’s embarrassing. Clients just think I’m lying because they simply can’t believe HMRC is that useless. It’s unbelievably pathetic.”

Regular contributor, Open all hours, also shared their issue with MTD letters going to an address they hadn’t traded from since 2013.

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How are HMRC getting away with this?

Add MTD4IT into the mix and MP Murray and friends will be stuck in the gloop for good leaving Farage to save the universe...yikes!.


By TaxTeddy
07th Nov 2025 10:42
Ah yes, service levels. What a timely article.

My colleague has spent half of the morning calling HMRC and being repeatedly cut off trying to obtain repayment of CGT overpaid. Sound familiar? This has been going on since December last year and HMRC now say, yes we will respond but not within the next 10 weeks.

It reminded me of my time at HMRC (a long time ago), and the "over 14" counts, which we had every month.

For those not familiar with the concept, this referred to any correspondence - internal or external - which was more than 14 days old which had to be accounted for, and if that figure was getting too high the district inspector would receive a serious wigging from the regional head office. Yes, that was 14 days, not 14 months.

It's good sometimes to look back and see just how far we have come.

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Your call is important

Half an hour of "Your call is important to us, please continue to hold".

If it was that important they'd answer the damned thing.

From accountingweb...why is everything soooooo much poorer than the 1980s? HMRC again breaking the Taxpayers Charter.

And where are the regulators? I see Labour are already investigating the OBR.....they can get things moving when they want to.

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How dealing with HMRC can seriously damage you....can we get Trump to send in a few helicopters to HMRC HQ?

Reminds me of my own story where 3 versions of the same letter were all lost by HMRC despite the 3rd being sent by registered post. When I self combusted they told me they had the original letter after all.

How big are the dents in your desks?
The last thing I needed today was HMRC proving they are truly hopeless

I've just smashed my head into my desk as I'm at breaking point from the experience I've just had with HMRC.

I have a client that we've recently engaged as they setup an LLP themselves. They'll need to file a partnership return for 2024/25. They insist they never received a UTR for the partnership from HMRC. Whether they lost it, or if it never arrived - it shouldn't matter. This is basic query to HMRC.

I advised the client to ring Self Assessment general enquiries (SA GE) and tell them:

"I did not receive the UTR for an LLP that I am the nominated partner for"

I expected them to be taken through security and have it reissued or the client would be suitably advised what they need to do. Instead they got transferred to Corp Tax who told them to fill in the online form for a lost UTR. The client then tries to fill in said form which lights up with an error that as it is an LLP, they'll need to ring SA GE. The client rings SA GE for a second time and the advisor admitted they didn't understand what an LLP was, told the client to call back on Monday and hung up!

The client has tried their best and wasted 90 minutes so they asked if I can help. I call the Agent Dedicated Line (ADL) to ask for general advice as it'd be unreasonable for me to tell the client to waste another 45 minutes. The ADL said the client must ring SA GE. I protested that this hasn't worked and it's not fair to have to keep trying until the client speaks to someone that knows what they're doing. I went on to ask if there was anything else we could do that would mean we wouldn't need to contact SA GE. Again, the ADL advisor tells me there is no other way and the client must speak to SA GE.

Then I had a quick thought whilst I was on the phone so I asked "if we send a paper 64-8 without the UTR, will you be able to match up the record and link us as agent?"

They said yes, that will also work.

Let me know if anyone wants a photo of the hole in my wall.

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Why are West Ham and HMRC alike?

Their leaders have or will be Damed/Knighted and both are superb examples of how not to run a business.


By Tornado
08th Jan 2026 13:06
I sent in a written appeal against late filing penalties on the 6th September 2025 and according to the 'When will I get a reply' service I can expect a reply by 16th June 2026.

HMRC Deserve no respect or credibility at all for this sort of Disgraceful Service'

MTD? No possible chance of being able to manage that

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By Tornado
08th Jan 2026 13:06
I sent in a written appeal against late filing penalties on the 6th September 2025 and according to the 'When will I get a reply' service I can expect a reply by 16th June 2026.

If HMRC had been had been involved in the 1980s Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger film it would have to be renamed 9 1/2 months.

#Labour isn't working...just like Boris and Co.