HMRC shuts 税金 returns helpline... just as millions 急ぐ to とじ込み／提出する before January 31 最終期限
You couldn't make it up if you tried.?
That was the 圧倒的な 返答 from taxpayers earlier this month when the numpkins running HM 歳入 & Customs suddenly 発表するd they would be shutting its self-査定／評価 helpline to most 報知係s.
Only '優先' calls, they said, would be answered in the eight weeks running up to the January 31, 2024, 最終期限 for 税金 returns to be とじ込み／提出するd. Everyone else would have to go online for advice.
A ludicrous 決定／判定勝ち（する） given that now is the 頂点（に達する） time of the 税金 year when people 捜し出す advice ahead of とじ込み／提出するing their return.
HMRC's own data 示すs that nearly a ４半期/4分の1 of calls to its 助言者s (1.2 million out of 5.5 million) are made during this eight-week window.
Offline : HM 歳入 & Customs 発表するd they would be shutting its self-査定／評価 税金 helpline to most 報知係s
Just to rub salt into open 負傷させるs, the numpkins also decided that just two working days' notice of its move to 制限する phone advice would be 十分な for taxpayers to 吸収する and take on board. What 惑星 are these buffoons living on?
Yet, one-and-a-half weeks on from this bombshell 告示, the civil servants running the 政府's collector of 税金s are not for turning. Far from it.
にもかかわらず an almighty （激しい）反発 from taxpayers, 税金 専門家s and MPs, they are 決定するd to go ahead with their mad-cap 計画（する）.?
A 計画（する） that is likely to 原因（となる） 普及した 強調する／ストレス の中で taxpayers fearful of either 行方不明の the 差し迫った January 31 最終期限 or making a mistake ― and getting 罰金d as a result.
Many 捜し出すing personal advice will be people who have been drawn into self-査定／評価 for the first time follo wing the 政府's stealth 税金 （警察の）手入れ，急襲 to shore up its beleaguered 財政／金融s ― resulting in 税金 存在 予定 on everything from 貯金 and （株主への）配当s to 資本／首都 伸び（る）s.
- Have YOU been caught up in a 税金 絡まる? 令状 to moneymail@dailymail.co.uk?
Some pensioners are even having to 交渉する the self-査定／評価 minefield for the first time as their income ― 含むing the 明言する／公表する 年金 ― takes them into 所得税 領土.
Many of these self-査定／評価 newbies (more than one million) will be left bewildered by the whole 過程 as they are directed online and 迎える／歓迎するd with texts rather than a friendly 発言する／表明する at the end of a phone.
A 'culture of 恐れる' and too much micromanagement is 主要な to HMRC 延期するs, （人命などを）奪う，主張する insiders?
The 終結 of the 付加価値税 登録 helpline in May and summer 終結 of the self-査定／評価 helpline has その上の infuriated those trying to get through to HMRC.
Headcount 削減（する）s have likely done little to help 事柄s, but insiders have told This Is Money that it is staff retention and 欠如（する） of training at the root of HMRC's 問題／発行するs.
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Others will be left stewing on the line, waiting for someone somewhere (probably working from home) to answer.
Yesterday, the 影響力のある 財務省 Select 委員会 published the contents of a letter it had received from the boss of HMRC in 返答 to 関心s it raised after the December 7 告示 on 制限するing 接近 to phone advice.
The letter, written by Jim Harra, HMRC 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある and First 永久の 長官, was certainly 非常に長い, rambling on for seven pages.
And there were 安心s throughout that taxpayers who need help over the telephone with their 税金 returns ― for example, the digitally 除外するd, the 年輩の and those with コンビナート／複合体 税金 事件／事情／状勢s ― will still be able to receive it from HMRC's phone 助言者s (albeit, only after jumping through hoops).
Yet most of Mr Harra's letter was no more than a 増強 of the department's 客観的な ― to turn self-査定／評価 into a '数字表示式の event' with little personal interaction between staff and taxpayers.
The 未来 lies online and 経由で 動きやすい apps.
Mr Harra's diatribe received a curt 返答 from Harriett Baldwin, 議長，司会を務める of the 財務省 Select 委員会, who has earned herself a 評判 for 恐れるing no one, be they bank bosses or the 長，率いるs of 政府 departments.
'I thank Jim Harra for his 誘発する 返答,' she said, a comment that seemed to be laced in irony given the HMRC's appalling 記録，記録的な／記録する for answering taxpayers' phone calls quickly (ten million calls to the taxman go unanswered a year).
'However,' she continued, 'I remain 関心d that this 削減 in service will leave people sitting in long phone 列s in the run up to the 最終期限 for とじ込み／提出するing 税金 returns.'
頂点（に達する） time: HMRC's own data 示すs that nearly a ４半期/4分の1 of calls to its 助言者s (1.2 million out of 5.5 million) are made during the eight-weeks before the January 31 最終期限
Only last month, Ms Baldwin 警告するd that the 影響 of higher 税金s 課すd by the 政府 提起する／ポーズをとるd a 'nightmare' for HMRC.
It's not the first time HMRC has 押し進めるd taxpayers 捜し出すing advice online. Over the summer, it 制限するd 接近 to its self-helpline for three months ― an obvious '実験（する）' run for what is now in place.
税金 専門家s 予報するd the summer move would result in people 延期するing their self-査定／評価 queries.
But Mr Harra, in his letter to Ms Baldwin, 論争s this. Use of the self-査定／評価 helpline, he said, is '現在／一般に at 推定する／予想するd levels'.
So, what do the coming weeks 持つ／拘留する? If Mr Harra is to be believed, HMRC should 会合，会う its 'service 基準s', 供給するd it is successful in 演習ing home the message that most taxpayers should co ntact it digitally.
This means 努力する／競うing to 減ずる the 容積／容量 of 顧客 接触する by phone and 地位，任命する by 30 per cent ― compared with three years ago.
If it is able to do this, Mr Harra says, it will 解放する／自由な up 資源s to help those who truly need help on the phone.
Yet, there are few people (taxpayers or 専門家s) who 信用 him to 配達する on his words. A quick ざっと目を通す of comments on our sister website thisismoney.co.uk 示すs 普及した 敵意 に向かって HMRC:
'An 絶対の joke.'
'Just another shambolic public service not fit for 目的.'
'Not been fit for 目的 for years now. They know nothing, they are arrogant & unhelpful if you get to speak to anybody.'
There's plenty more where that （機の）カム from.
But the most telling comment comes from Caroline Miskin, the 上級の technical 経営者／支配人 at the august 学校／設ける of 借り切る／憲章d Accountants in England and むちの跡s.
She says: 'If HMRC does not 達成する the 転換 to online services, we can 推定する／予想する a その上の 悪化／低下 in service levels.'
You have been 警告するd.?
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