HMRC has admitted to being at fault in nearly 60% of complaints made to them, according to research carried out by law firm, Pinsent Masons.
In 2010/11 over 58,000 complaints were made to HMRC which resulted in the department either upholding or partially upholding over 33,000 of those complaints.
The most common grievances were made by individuals and small businesses for unreasonable delays, mistakes and being treated poorly by members of Revenue staff.
Only last month HMRC announced that it was to take on an extra 1,000 staff in their call centres in an attempt to answer 90% of taxpayer calls. This was in direct response to the Treasury revealing that 25% of calls were going unanswered and despairing callers hanging up after being put on hold for an average of 5 minutes and 45 seconds.
Whilst HMRC should not be making this volume of recurring mistakes, the statistics do show that if taxpayers complain then the Revenue do listen and take the matter seriously. Where people feel they have been treated unfairly or have incurred unnecessary financial costs due to Revenue error, then it is important that they complain, in the first instance, to HMRC to seek resolution.
HMRC, in a statement, said, “We have made real improvements to our customer services; 1,000 additional contact centre staff are to be recruited following a £34 million investment and we are turning around post faster than ever. Such improvements will reduce the level of complaints going forward.” We shall see!
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