Between now and midnight on Friday, there will be a mad scramble among taxpayers to file their self-assessment tax returns – and pay any sum due.

Although the vast majority of the 12 million people required to file will comfortably meet the deadline, some will go to the wire.

Last year, 33,000 people waited until after 11 o’clock of the evening of January 31 before filing – and there is no reason to suggest this number will be any different come Friday night. And of course, some won’t make it.

More than 500,000 taxpayers are expected to miss the deadline, resulting in a £100 fine and an interest surcharge of 7.25 per cent on overdue tax.

The latest official figures from HM Revenue & Custom (HMRC) indicate that 8.6 million taxpayers have filed, leaving 3.4 million people yet to do so.

Assessing these numbers, you could conclude the system is working well – that most people are paying their tax on time, while late payers are punished for tardiness.

But looks deceive. Under the surface, many taxpayers continue to struggle to get help from HMRC, whether by phone, post or using its digital services. 

Queries are not dealt with promptly, mistakes take an age to be corrected, and delays sometimes result in taxpayers filing their tax return late.

Last week, the Commons public accounts committee, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, published a damning report on HMRC’s customer service.

Words of praise were in short supply. Its summary was blistering, stating that HMRC answered just two-thirds of customer calls to its advisers (against a target of 85 per cent) in the last full tax year – with calls automatically cut off after 70 minutes without any supporting explanation or callback option.

There was more. It poured scorn on the HMRC for its decision last March to close tax helplines at short notice – a move which prompted the then Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to demand a volte-face.

It also cast doubt on HMRC claims about the user-friendliness of its digital services, while raising concerns over its failure to tackle a £39.8 billion ‘tax gap’ – the difference between the amount of tax that should be paid to HMRC and the sum it collected.

Scarcely a word of praise for HMRC, prompting an angry exchange of letters between Mr Clifford-Brown and Sir Jim Harra, HMRC’s chief executive.

On answering calls, for example, Mr Harra said the percentage of calls to its advisers that were answered had risen to 69 per cent for the tax year to November last year, with the monthly average in both October and November hitting the 85 per cent target.

Mr Clifton-Brown’s reply was pointed, stating ‘this is not sufficiently complete or persuasive data to undermine my committee’s view of longer-term deterioration of service from HMRC’.

Yesterday, Mr Clifton-Brown told Money Mail: ‘Our report reflected HMRC’s evidence that demand for the tax authority’s services is rising, with more taxpayers being pulled into the system and often into more complex areas to boot.

‘But it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to HMRC that more people would be dragged into the tax net, and they should have been able to plan for it.

‘Our primary conclusion on its approach to customer service stands. HMRC is an organisation in defensive mode. 

It must take better responsibility for its own failures and ensure that it does the work to understand how to strike the right balance between digital and phone services.’

A Freedom of Information request made by investing platform AJ Bell backs the committee’s chairman.

The data it obtained shows that the number of calls answered by HMRC fell from 33.1 million in the tax year ending April 5, 2015 to 16.2 million in the last full tax year. Around 44 per cent of calls were answered in the tax year ending April 5, 2024, compared to 60 per cent in 2021-2022.

What experts think

Most are on the side of Mr Clifton-Brown. HMRC, they told Money Mail yesterday, is not fit for purpose. 

Its customer service leaves much to be desired, irrespective of whether taxpayers seek answers to queries by telephone, post or digitally.

The responses ranged from the ‘spitting blood’ variety through to those who believe HMRC is more a victim of political tinkering than incompetence. 

Among the spitting-blood brigade is John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, a pressure group which campaigns vociferously for a low-tax society.

‘Taxpayers are sick of being left feeling helpless by HMRC,’ he says. ‘While staff laze around at home and have days off to promote gender ideology, more Brits are being left on hold. It’s time for HMRC to pick up the phone.’

Baroness Ros Altmann, a former government minister, is also dismissive of the HMRC, albeit in less crude terms.

She says: ‘The cards are stacked against taxpayers when it comes to understanding and paying their taxes. Those who cannot engage online, especially the digitally-excluded elderly, often end up stressed, angry and out of pocket.

‘Their inability to get assistance from HMRC often causes them to run up tax penalties and interest charges.’ Among the more placatory are Nimesh Shah, chief executive of Blick Rothenberg, a leading audit, tax and business advisory firm – and Sir Steve Webb, a former MP who is now a partner at pension consultants LCP. 

Mr Shah believes HMRC is a victim of ‘ballooning’ tax legislation in response to constant ‘political tinkering’.

This is reflected in a self-assessment tax form that now comprises 624 questions, compared to 531 15 years ago.

He says: ‘HMRC and its systems have simply not been able to keep up and there seems to be a complete misalignment between HMRC, HM Treasury and government. Service standards will only improve through a radical simplification of the tax system.’

Mr Webb also points a finger at government ministers, past and present. He says they are often guilty of demanding ‘cash efficiency’ savings – ‘crude cuts in headcount’ – which in the HMRC’s case drives it to reduce costs by pushing taxpayers to do things digitally.

This, he says, results in a ‘reluctance to provide a Rolls-Royce phone service’.

He adds: ‘If governments of all parties want to improve customer service, this sometimes means employing people who have the time to spend answering questions and helping people.’

Although Money Mail’s consumer champion Sally Hamilton admits she is not bombarded with letters from readers grumbling about HMRC, she says those who contact her have often been left frustrated by its inability to sort out problems promptly.

‘The last issue I looked at related to money that a pensioner had earned from selling goods online to supplement her income,’ says Sally. 

She paid tax on the income by sending a cheque to HMRC, only to discover that it had been mistakenly allocated to pay for national insurance which as a pensioner she no longer pays. 

She ended up paying the same sum again via her self-assessment tax return while patiently waiting more than a year for the first payment to be refunded.

‘Despite making numerous calls and sending many letters, she got nowhere. It was only after I intervened that HMRC apologised for the blunder that had left her out of pocket for more than a year.’

What needs to be done 

Tax experts believe HMRC should do a number of things to make its customer service fit for purpose.

Victoria Todd, head of the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, says HMRC should do more to ensure taxpayers who do not have to complete a self-assessment tax return are made aware of this.

She says: ‘Frozen allowances and thresholds mean that more people are facing year-end tax bills, but not all need to do a self-assessment tax return to pay their tax.

‘For some, any extra tax will be collected by HMRC in other ways, for example through “simple assessment” or by adjusting their PAYE (pay as you earn) codes. 

'But many taxpayers – such as state pensioners or taxpayers with savings income – aren’t aware of this.’

She adds: ‘HMRC could do more to make non-self-assessment taxpayers aware of how and when their tax will be collected. 

If taxpayers are unsure how their tax will be paid, they are more likely to contact HMRC to check.’ In other words, clog up HMRC’s phonelines. HMRC has a ‘simple assessment’ guide for pensioners at www.gov.uk.

Robert Salter, a director of Blick Rothenberg, has a long list of potential reforms. For a start, he believes HMRC should ensure that more employees have the technical skills to deal with an increasingly complex tax system.

He says: ‘We have encountered situations where HMRC staff genuinely don’t understand the tax laws. 

I have spoken to officials who appear to believe that someone paying income tax is automatically liable for national insurance. This is quite often not the case.’

He also believes HMRC should be more flexible about the hours its phone helplines are manned; they are open from eight in the morning until six at night.

Mr Salter says: ‘Any organisation focused on clients – and that is the term HMRC uses for taxpayers – should be customer-centric. 

'That means phone lines being open when people clock off work or at the weekend. Customers must come first.’

As for the way taxpayers can contact HMRC about problems, experts are united. While they say that ‘going digital’ is the right strategy for HMRC, it must allow taxpayers to contact it by phone (and post).

As Ms Todd says: ‘For many people who need to complete a self-assessment tax return, and in particular those doing it for the first time, it can be daunting.

‘Even though HMRC has been working to improve online guidance, there will always be taxpayers who seek clarification and reassurance. It is important they are able to speak with HMRC staff.’

...And what HMRC says

Yesterday, HMRC was robust in defence of its customer service. It told Money Mail: ‘The [public accounts] committee’s claims about our customer service are completely baseless. 

In reality, we’ve made huge improvements to our service standards, with call wait times down by 17 minutes since April last year.

‘We will always be there to answer the phone for those who need extra help. At the same time, more than 80 per cent of customers are satisfied with our digital services, with more people using them to manage quickly and easily their tax affairs.’

It insisted that improving customer service remained a key priority.

Although it confirmed that it would soon publish a ‘digital roadmap’ detailing its digital-first strategy, it insisted that its helpline advisers would always be there to support taxpayers who need more help – especially the vulnerable, the digitally excluded and those with complex queries.

• Do you think HMRC’s customer service is fit for purpose? Email: [email protected]