Self Assessment - UTR

Pennywise

kickwhamstunner wrote: »

If you did everything right like you assert, I doubt there'd have been these problems. This smacks of blaming HMRC for your own shortcomings.

Like I said, I've an aplogy letter from HMRC and the client has received a cheque from HMRC for the extra fees they had to pay!! I don't think that the HMRC would apologise and pay out money if they didn't accept responsibility!

Bowlmeister

I have been reading the thread about obtaining a UTR with interest. As a tax practitioner HMRC are seemingly making it far more difficult for them to offer a service to clients - after all the client is paying the agent for carrying this work out on their behalf. In additon, there is a hybrid system in place where some things you can do electronically and others that you can't! My advice to anyone dealing with HMRC is:

1 Try not to speak to them. If you can do it electronically then do so.
2 The agent priority line only gets agents through quicker. We don't speak to anyone different - they still don't know what they're talking about!

Mary_Hartnell

SeanF wrote: »

Your choice, you wouldn't use a diy health doctoring system in place of a health check from your local GP or a diy legal software in place of a solicitor, so why in the world would you take on the tax return without an experienced accountant, many of whom will give you a free "screening" and quote you a no obligation price to add an expert touch to your taxation affairs.

As someone who once had to take on a GP doing the "I am the doctor" act; when he did not know what he was talking about; all I can say is:
How much does this convoluted system cost?
Why are we the citizens putting up with this nonsense?

Pennywise

Mary_Hartnell wrote: »

How much does this convoluted system cost? Why are we the citizens putting up with this nonsense?

That's the most sensible comment on this thread. The sheer man-hours both within HMRC and spent by taxpayers on complete irrelevancies must be huge. Bring on the simplification!

kickwhamstunner

Bowlmeister wrote: »

We don't speak to anyone different - they still don't know what they're talking about!

Wrong, and patronising! A double whammy!

Pennywise

kickwhamstunner wrote: »

Wrong, and patronising! A double whammy!

According to HMRC website, this Summer the agent's dedicated helpline was changed to divert to "more experienced staff" - quote in brackets from HMRC website!

Prior to that it just jumped the queue to the same call handlers that dealt with taxpayers directly.

I think that says it all - there must have been problems for their to be a need to divert to "more experienced staff". Why would they make this change and proudly announce it if there hadn't been problems under the old "priority only" system.

With summer holidays etc., I've not had much need to call HMRC over the past month or two, so can't comment on whether their service is better now. Hopefully it is. Perhaps HMRC have, for once, listened and improved their service. I, for one, will be delighted if they have seen the error of their ways and started to make better use of the experienced and more able staff on front-line duties.

chrismac1

To be fair to HMRC, the agent helpline has been noticeably better over the past 2 months or so. If I was the head of HMRC, my public sector role model for the HMRC helplines would be Companies House where, when you call:

1. You are never passed on to "person B" or "phone number C" without person A - the one you called - also taking personal responsibility for your issue.
2. It almost never takes more than one minute to get through.
3. You always speak to someone who knows what they are talking about.
4. 90% of the time your issue - even some tricky techincial ones involving unusual aspects of company accounts - is sorted within 10 minutes, usually 5.

This is not a "let's bash the public sector" thing. Some areas of the public sector are consistently excellent. Others are truly dreadful.

Pennywise

chrismac1 wrote: »

ToThis is not a "let's bash the public sector" thing. Some areas of the public sector are consistently excellent. Others are truly dreadful.

Absolutely agree with you. My dealings with Companies House always go well. Nearly all HMRC online matters go through without a hitch. Recent dealings with DVLA have been a pleasure - very quick turnaround with documents etc arriving almost by return of post. HMRC do seem a little lagging behind in the customer service stakes!