It's come to light that, of the 103 million calls that HMRC's call centres received in 2009, they failed to answer 44 million of them. The answer rate was 57%, compared to the still abysmal 2008 rate of 71%.
Accountants and tax advisers are insulated from this, as we're given special priority phone numbers to call. I can't recall the last time I made a call to an HMRC call centre that wasn't answered more or less immediately. But this inefficiency does add to the difficulties that taxpayers who don't use an accountant face in trying to make sure they pay the right amount of tax. And the decision to close down 130 tax offices is unlikely to make those taxpayers' lives any easier.
I'd say that making it harder for unrepresented taxpayers to comply with the law will inevitably drive them into the arms of accountants, who'll charge them to do things that they could have done themselves with prompt, accurate advice from HMRC. That might be lucrative for us, but it's bad for society as a whole.
In NZ there is an incentive to appoint an agent - the filing deadline is extended to 12 months from the standard 4 just for being on an agent's list!
Posted by: S | January 17, 2010 at 02:49 AM