Complaints about HMRC fail to fall as hoped

Taxpayers are waiting an average of 11 months for their complaints about HMRC to be picked up, according to the new annual report from the Adjudicator’s Office.

The document, which covers the year to 31 March 2009, also shows that seven weeks is the common length of investigations into grievances – just over 2,000 of which remain outstanding.

During 2008/09, the Adjudicator’s Office took on for inquiry 2,092 complaints about the Revenue, compared to 1,971 the previous year: an increase of about 6%. The governmental referee settled 1,650 of the grievances, a figure only fractionally lower than the 1,690 of the prior 12 months.

The office had expected the taxman’s revised code of practice (COP26) to significantly reduce the number of tax credit complaints, because it applied to all open disputes and grievances when introduced in January ’08. This was not the case, however; there was only a small drop in the number of tax credit complaints: 1,451, compared to 1,543 in 2007/08.

The lack of a fall in the number of tax credit grievances was the main reason for the backlog of complaints about HMRC not decreasing as anticipated, claims the new report.

The adjudicator, Judy Clements, is now in negotiations with the department's tax credits office on how its backlog can be cleared and how it can improve its handling of complaints and disputes.

There was a significant rise in complaints regarding other areas of tax in the year to 31 March. As with previous periods, the other main areas of dispute were tax coding and the application of extra statutory concession A19 (giving up tax where there are Revenue delays using information), investigations and enquiries, and assurance work (VAT).

In 2008/09, the Adjudicator’s Office recommended that HMRC pay a total of £188,597 compensation to complainants, give up tax and interest amounting to £30,427, and write off £1,976,113 in overpaid tax credits. The taxman accepted all recommendations.

Judy Clements remarked that the Revenue 'faces a number of challenges, ranging from building on the progress it has made in restoring its customers’ trust following the data disc loss in October 2007, through to working towards meeting its demanding targets and vision against a very difficult funding and wider economic backdrop'.

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