Taskforce to tackle HMRC’s postal backlog

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/hmr ... al-backlog

HMRC has set up a taskforce to address the backlog of unanswered post following months of complaints from agents and taxpayers of long delays.

In a bid to reduce mounting postal requests from agents, HMRC has expanded the Agent Account Manager (AAM) team to trial a dedicated taskforce focused solely on processing letters more than 12 months old.

What to expect
Coming into force earlier this week (10 July) agents can now get in touch with the Agents' Issue Resolution Service via their online form to identify post over a year old where the tax department has not responded.

After registering with the AAM, agents who escalate their enquiry will receive an automated message acknowledging receipt. HMRC will reply within five working days to confirm that the reported post has been identified, with a more detailed response within 15 days.

HMRC has reminded agents that the AAM service will not deal with issues covered by other departments, including:

Cases where a response has already been provided to an agent, such as a request for additional information
Formal complaints (unless there is associated post over 12 months old without a response
Compliance checks (unless there is associated post over 12 months old without a response)
Appeals against HMRC decisions
Post items less than 12 months old

A positive step?

The announcement has been touted as a positive step by some industry figures who have long been pressuring HMRC to tackle its backlog of post.

Helen Thornley, a technical officer at the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT), said she was "delighted to see this specific targeting of really old post by HMRC".

Commenting on Twitter, Thornley said: "We have seen exercises like this in the past work well to bring down backlogs of old post in smaller departments like trusts/IHT and I’ve been pushing HMRC to get to grips with what is sitting in the backlog for more general post - we just need agents to report it now.

“There’s a big gap between what HMRC are reporting - which is piles of post on hand going down - and what members tell me regarding delays - so I hope this exercise can help flush out blockages in the system,” Thornley continued.

However, others were less impressed by HMRC’s announcement. Robert Salter, director of Blick Rothenberg, argued that the trial was “simply too little and too late” and “does nothing to resolve the service issues which are found throughout HMRC”.

“The HMRC plan simply involves the Revenue pulling away resources from their phone lines and other teams to deal with the unanswered correspondence," he said.

Skewering HMRC’s decision to restrict its “safety net” self assessment helpline over the summer months back in April, Salter described the tax authority's decision as “robbing Peter, to pay Paul” without addressing the fundamental issues faced by HMRC, include "a lack of staff, often limited training, and poor technology”.

A long road ahead
The mounting pressure and dissatisfaction with HMRC’s handling of unanswered post has long been lamented by those on AccountingWEB's Any Answers forums.

AccountingWEB users shared their own experiences of waiting for a response from HMRC. Joe Alderson wrote that they had “at least half a dozen ongoing disputes/cases with HMRC [and] had no response for at least six months,” while taxinfo noted that they've been waiting for a response from HMRC for over a year.

However, Geoff56 won the contest for the longest wait for a reply, writing that they were still waiting on HMRC correspondence from a letter sent in October 2020.

“Despite reminders (on which I have now given up) and resubmission of everything a year later, two years and eight months down the line, still nothing,” Geoff56 added.

HMRC have noted that they will be monitoring the trial and offering an update on its progress in August.