HMRC has halted its plans to close its self-assessment helpline for six months a year following an outcry from the self-employed.
Revenue and Customs were looking to press ahead with a cost-cutting measure, announcing on Tuesday that the phone line would be down between April and September. It also said that it would only open the VAT helpline for five business days every month ahead of the deadline for filing VAT returns.
The planned cessation came after a trial last year.
Under government ruling, you need to complete a tax return if you: are self-employed as a sole trader and earned more than £1,000; were a partner in a business partnership; had a total taxable income of more than £100,000; had to pay capital gains tax when you sold or ‘disposed of’ something that increased in value; or had to pay the high income child benefit charge.
HMRC has thankfully u-turned on closing its helpline (for now), update here... https://t.co/0dOLywp7WO
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) March 20, 2024
The tax return must be completed by the end of January for the previous tax year and is a notoriously tricky process, meaning that the phone line has proved valuable.
Hundreds of thousands of people ring the phone line with 12 million needing to complete the self-assessment every year in the UK.
Chairwoman of the treasury select committee, Harriett Baldwin, said the move to online services should not be “forced on taxpayers” and had opposed it.
She said: “It is a great shame that HMRC have decided now is the time to essentially close down any avenues for people to contact them over the phone for huge parts of the year. I say once again, these are well-meaning people just trying to get their taxes right.”
On Twitter, she was joined by a chorus of angry views against the move with Martin Lewis among those expressing displeasure. There was also said to be pressure from Jeremy Hunt and criticism from the Chartered Institute of Taxation and Federation of Small Businesses.
On Wednesday, HMRC confirmed it would be backing down on the move and said it would now be keeping the phone line open over the summer as well as stopping VAT helpline changes.
Chief executive Jim Harra said: "We've listened to the feedback and we're halting the helpline changes as we recognise more needs to be done to ensure all taxpayers' needs are met, whilst also encouraging them to transition to online services."
HMRC said it will continue encouraging customers to self-serve where possible and access the information they need more quickly and easily by going online or to its app.
The U-turn has been welcomed online.
Gillian Pitkin tweeted: “Good, it took me two years to sort out my marriage tax allowance claim with HMRC because of self-employment, they are terrible at customer service. Don't want to use online chats, want to speak to a human being, end of.”
Jayne added: “Good news for me as someone who is going to need a bit more help & advice with my self-assessment this coming tax year - just need them to be given the resources to staff the phone lines adequately…”
