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What is your recent experience of HMRC’s performance?

Susan Cattell By Susan Cattell, Head of Tax Technical Policy

6 February 2023

ICAS is giving input to the Charter Stakeholder group (CSG) on how HMRC has been performing against its Charter standards recently – complete the CSG survey to let us know about your experience.

What is the HMRC Charter?

HMRC is required to have a Charter which must include the standards of behaviour and values to which it will aspire when dealing with people in the exercise of its functions. The current version of the Charter was launched in November 2020 following a consultation to which ICAS contributed.

HMRC is also required to make an annual report reviewing the extent to which it has demonstrated the standards of behaviour and values included in the Charter.

The Charter Stakeholder group

The group is made up of representatives of the tax community, including ICAS, ICAEW and the CIOT. It holds regular meetings with HMRC which discuss how the Charter is being reflected in taxpayer and agent experience of dealing with HMRC. It also gives formal input about how HMRC is performing against the standards in the Charter, for inclusion in the annual Charter report.

HMRC’s recent performance

ICAS is contributing to the Charter Stakeholder Group (CSG) assessment of HMRC performance against the Charter standards for the period April 2022 to February 2023, for the 2023 annual Charter report. In last year’s annual report Jim Harra, Chief Executive and Permanent secretary for HMRC pointed to the comments of the CSG that customer service was their greatest concern.

This has been another challenging period for HMRC. Members have reported numerous issues with HMRC service standards over the past year; these have been raised with HMRC in a joint letter with other professional bodies and regularly at meetings with HMRC. Amongst the problems encountered have been delays to repayments and correspondence, issues with the ADL and a range of problems arising from the new VAT registration service.

HMRC has continued to carry out some positive work around the Charter standards, including work on embedding professional standards across HMRC and improving communications to taxpayers. HMRC’s range of YouTube videos has been expanded to include several explaining the Statutory Review process.

Complete the CSG survey to give your input on HMRC’s performance

The CSG has prepared a survey to obtain feedback on HMRC's performance against its Charter. The results will form a key part of the Group’s feedback on HMRC's performance, which will be published in the Charter annual report. The survey should take no more than ten minutes to complete, and we welcome input from individuals, businesses and agents. The survey will run throughout February.

Let us know your views

The CSG survey deals specifically with HMRC’s performance against its Charter standards, but we welcome members’ input on consultations or any other tax-related matters – email tax@icas.com to share your insights and feedback. ICAS responds to many tax calls for evidence and consultations, as well as producing tax policy papers and reports. We also regularly attend meetings with HMRC at which service levels, delays and other issues are discussed, and we raise problems being encountered by members.

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