Getting hold of HMRC

sandx

Trying to speak to anyone in HMRC about my account is a nightmare!

Got a nasty letter 'YOU MUST PAY ££££s' dated 11th Feb arrived 24th Feb and the deadline was 28th Feb!! Luckily I managed to pay up before the deadline, the money went through 25th Feb.

Now I have another letter 'YOU MUST PAY ££££s plus £8 interest'. This was dated 27th Feb and the interest was added 27th Feb - hello???

Why can't HMRC offer an email service and make life a bit easier for us folk who cannot face spending hours on hold waiting for an advisor just to point out their mistakes? My bank statement shows that I have paid up on 25th Feb so I'm just going to ignore this letter.

At the moment, HMRC are the worst to get hold of on the phone. What about poor deaf people? Are they supposed to spend hours staring at a text phone?? Grrrrrr - I really hate HMRC!!

dori2o

sandx wrote: »

Trying to speak to anyone in HMRC about my account is a nightmare!

Got a nasty letter 'YOU MUST PAY ££££s' dated 11th Feb arrived 24th Feb and the deadline was 28th Feb!! Luckily I managed to pay up before the deadline, the money went through 25th Feb.

Now I have another letter 'YOU MUST PAY ££££s plus £8 interest'. This was dated 27th Feb and the interest was added 27th Feb - hello???

Why can't HMRC offer an email service and make life a bit easier for us folk who cannot face spending hours on hold waiting for an advisor just to point out their mistakes? My bank statement shows that I have paid up on 25th Feb so I'm just going to ignore this letter.

At the moment, HMRC are the worst to get hold of on the phone. What about poor deaf people? Are they supposed to spend hours staring at a text phone?? Grrrrrr - I really hate HMRC!!

You think it's hard to get hold of them now, wait until there is 25% less staff!!!

As for spending 'hours' on hold, it's a little OTT. The average queue time last week was 20/25 minutes.

If you made payment of your self assessment account on the 25th of February, then you will have interest to pay as the payment was due on 31 January.

Your payment made will not show on the statement dated 27th February as it takes 4 days to credit your account (assuming the payment was made via BACS) at which point the payment will have an effective date of receipt of 25th February.

Had you paid on time there wouldn't be a problem.

greytroot

average hold 20/25 minutes - hmm i called 3 times last week - 40 minutes, 35 minutes and 12 minutes before giving up. think hmrc would be better being outsourced!:D

dori2o

greytroot wrote: »

average hold 20/25 minutes - hmm i called 3 times last week - 40 minutes, 35 minutes and 12 minutes before giving up. think hmrc would be better being outsourced!:D

Fine by me. Matybe I'd then be paid a fair salary for the work I do.

Mikeyorks

sandx wrote: »

Luckily I managed to pay up before the deadline,

But you didn't. The deadline to avoid interest was 31st Jan. The 28th Feb 'deadline' was giving you the opportunity to avoid the 5% surcharge that's levied on outstanding balancing payments.

But the interest from 31/1 to the date of payment remains payable. So it's really your own choice to sit in a 'phone queue ..... as it's a bit of a pointless exercise. But I'd leave the £8 outstanding if you have a payment on account due 31st July ..... as they'll simply add it to that.

Tarasam

dori2o wrote: »

Fine by me. Matybe I'd then be paid a fair salary for the work I do.

Agreed, would be nice not to have to put up with the crap we have to take.

I'm still hoping for voluntary redundancy.

Pennywise

dori2o wrote: »

You think it's hard to get hold of them now, wait until there is 25% less staff!!!

Depends which 25% they get rid of and which 75% they keep. Some actually cause more work by not giving the right advice/information in the first place, meaning further phone calls, letters, etc to correct the original mistakes. It would be interesting to see the statistics of how many calls are second and third calls on the same matter that arise because it wasn't properly dealt with the first time, whether that be the fault of the staff or the systems. Properly trained staff with decent systems to use could easily reduce the need to contact HMRC by 25% or more. However, if they don't address the poor systems and continue to reduce staff by making the more experienced ones redundant, then, yes, one more step to meltdown.

chrismac1

It would be easy to reduce numbers by more than 25% and at the same time deliver a vastly better service in one simple step - eliminate the jobsworth culture and replace it with a JFDI culture. So unless there was a clear prospect that tax payments would be reduced as a result of a call / letter, people at all levels would be empowered to deal with queries first time. Currently I have 18 different 0845 numbers I use to contact HMRC and two non-0845 numbers. That is confusing enough for me as an accountant and all too frequently you end up with number A saying "you need to call B", then B says "the number you need is C" and then C says "you need number A" at which point you just give up all hope of finding an intelligent life form out there.

Then the database. I would re-program this to DO things which do not directly involve paying out cash unless someone goes in and manually blocks a particular process. So no more waiting 12 weeks or more for a new tax reference in order to pay VAT or income tax to the Treasury, such numbers will be with you in 3 working days unless an HMRC employee has intervened. All such interventions to be monitored by senior management to ensure they are not excessively jobsworthy.

And so it would go on. All letters to be answered within 3 weeks like any normal business, etc. Every process taking longer than 4 weeks to run to come up on a senior management exceptions report. Senior management bonuses to be 100% linked to how well they can reduce these backlogs in the next 12 months, as well as how well they can reduce staff numbers.

And within 12 months the whole things turns itself around. The chances of any of this happening are slim to zero. There is no management will and no will from the majority of the workforce.

dori2o

chrismac1 wrote: »

It would be easy to reduce numbers by more than 25% and at the same time deliver a vastly better service in one simple step - eliminate the jobsworth culture and replace it with a JFDI culture. So unless there was a clear prospect that tax payments would be reduced as a result of a call / letter, people at all levels would be empowered to deal with queries first time. Currently I have 18 different 0845 numbers I use to contact HMRC and two non-0845 numbers.
Thats funny. HMRC now has 2 numbers to contact them regarding a matter concerning their tax affairs. 1 for PAYE queries 08453000627, and one for SA queries 08459000444

That is confusing enough for me as an accountant and all too frequently you end up with number A saying "you need to call B", then B says "the number you need is C" and then C says "you need number A" at which point you just give up all hope of finding an intelligent life form out there.

Then the database. I would re-program this to DO things which do not directly involve paying out cash unless someone goes in and manually blocks a particular process. So no more waiting 12 weeks or more for a new tax reference in order to pay VAT or income tax to the Treasury, such numbers will be with you in 3 working days unless an HMRC employee has intervened.
All new self employed records will be set up at the point of contact when the customer contacts the Newly self employed helpline on 08459154515
All such interventions to be monitored by senior management to ensure they are not excessively jobsworthy.

And so it would go on. All letters to be answered within 3 weeks like any normal business, etc. Every process taking longer than 4 weeks to run to come up on a senior management exceptions report. Senior management bonuses
What bonuses?
to be 100% linked to how well they can reduce these backlogs in the next 12 months, as well as how well they can reduce staff numbers.

And within 12 months the whole things turns itself around. The chances of any of this happening are slim to zero. There is no management will and no will from the majority of the workforce.And you know this how exactly.

Let me tell you how it actually is.

A lot of the problems are caused by accountants, thats right, people like you.

Sending forms, i.e. a 64-8 to the wrong place.this then has to be forwarded to the correct office to be updated. Then phoning up complaining because YOU have followed the wrong proceedure.

Agents execting to be given priority on every single case they have. They already have the priority phoneline, they have the ability to access their clients record online, the ability to print out payslips, and many more things the ordinary customer does not have access to.

When agents don't like something, they kick and scream, throw their toys out of the pram until they get their own way. The recent changes to the issue of P2's is an example. Surely it'snot too hard to have your client forward it to you..... Of course it is, so you have p*ssed and whinged until you got your way and HMRC gave you access to SA customers P2 online.

The highlight of my day, and it happens almost everyday, is when the agent comes on the phone, shouting the odds, only to be told the problem is with something they have done wrong. Listening to them squirm is some consollation for the sh*t salary and working conditions.

Tarasam

And then you get the agents who havent a clue what they are talking about - I have recently had to explain SA surcharges to an "established" agent, who was extremely snooty and patronising to me - I dare say taking a high sum of money from their client for a !!!! service.

I know Chrismac that you love to slag off HMRC but please the practice of some of your profession (not aiming this specifically at you) also leave a lot to desired and I'm certain that just as in accountancy as well as in HMRC theres a lot of people who want to do a good job for a fair days pay.

chrismac1

OK guys I admit it. The reason why HMRC is so poor is all down to us accountants. It's a fair cop!