Frustrated by HMRC delays? Here’s our advice

Have you been waiting on a response from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for an inordinate amount of time? You’re not alone. We’ve had many customers get in touch asking for advice on how they can chase up HMRC.

Unfortunately, like many other businesses, HMRC is still feeling the ill effects of Covid. So here are our tips on what to do if you are being left exasperated by your attempts to get a response from HMRC. Let’s get started.

Check the HMRC timeframes

The HMRC service dashboard provides you with reasonably up-to-date information on their current service levels (for both online and postal requests). You can get information on the below categories:

• Agent services
• Corporation Tax
• Income Tax
• Self Assessment
• Tax Credits
• VAT

As an example, at the time of writing, the dashboard provides the following information for the ‘Refund from a Self Assessment tax return – online submission’ sub-category of ‘Self Assessment’:

‘We aim to reply within 15 working days from the date you sent your request. However, to protect customers against fraud HMRC has security measures in place which may cause a delay. Please allow up to a further 4 weeks before contacting HMRC about your request.’

Whilst this is a useful tool for giving you a rough indication of the timeframe, we recommend approaching it with a level of skepticism. Due to resourcing issues, as well as backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, HMRC is currently significantly backlogged in several departments, with large delays in excess of published timescales.

Also use the ‘Check when you can expect a reply from HMRC’ tool

Similar to the service dashboard, the ‘Check when you can expect a reply from HMRC’ tool can tell you if your response regarding any of the below is overdue:

• Child Benefits
• Corporation Tax
• Income Tax
• Self Assessment
• Tax credits
• VAT

To use the tool:

1. Go to the dedicated ‘Check when you can expect a reply from HMRC’ tool page and select ‘Start now’
2. Confirm whether or not you are an agent
3. Select which of the above categories your query is related to, for example ‘VAT’
4. Select the appropriate sub-category, for example ‘Register for VAT’
5. Enter the date that your request was sent to HMRC, for example ‘01/09/2022’

You will then be advised on when you should have received a response. For the examples we used above, we got the following response:

‘You should have received a reply by 19 October 2022. If you want an update on your request or have not received a reply, you can contact HMRC.’

Phone the correct HMRC department

If your response is overdue, it’s time to reach out (again) to HMRC. For your convenience, here are the current phone numbers for the different HMRC departments/categories:

• Child Benefits: 0300 200 3100
• Construction Industry Scheme: 0300 200 3210
• Coronavirus: 0800 024 1222
• HMRC online services: 0300 200 3600
• Income Tax: 0300 200 3300
• National Insurance: 0300 200 3500
• Suspicious HMRC emails: 0300 200 3601
• Self-Assessment: 0300 200 3310
• Tax Credits: 0345 300 3900
• Tax for employers: 0300 200 3200
• VAT: 0300 200 3700

Hopefully, the wait time isn’t too long, and when you do get through you receive a satisfactory answer to your query. However, if you don’t, you should now make a complaint.

Making a complaint about HMRC

You are within your rights to make a formal complaint if you believe you have ‘received a poor service’ or if you have experienced ‘unreasonable delays’. This is a necessary step to escalate your issue, to receive a quicker response.

The easiest way to complain is via the appropriate phone number as outlined in the phone number section above. If you have had any previous correspondence regarding the issue already, be sure to have your reference number to hand.

You can also make your complaint online or by post.

Here’s the link for complaining online (as an individual or business).

If complaining via post, see the dedicated HMRC postal complaints page for guidance on who to send your complaint to (the address depends on the issue).

There you have it

We wish you good luck in getting a speedy response from HMRC, and a resolution to your query or application.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

For more posts like this, please see our central blog page.