How many times lately have you tried to call a business or organization and received an automated message saying, “We are currently experiencing high call volumes” or some variation?
And then, icing on the cake, “why don’t you go online with your request”.
I wonder: are they really that busy or are they testing my very British patience in the queue to see if I’ll stop and go to the dreaded chatbot?
TV presenter James May recently summed it up in an article on the social networking site Just answer the damn phone. We have had enough.
“Press one to hear this option again. Why not chat with us online?
Taxation: no one wants to have to talk on the phone to the taxman – but the possibility should always be there (stock image)
For me, calling a company or organization is the last straw. As in, I tried to solve a problem, I can’t, so I need help. It’s not like I want to stay parked and listen to Greensleeves and I appreciate you bringing this up.
That frustration was propelled into the news cycle this week. The tax office controversially announced it would close its self-assessment helpline from April 8 until the end of September.
Plus, it would do it every year – and then only take “priority calls” outside of those dates.
Quite rightly, there was an outcry and only 24 hours passed before an embarrassing and garish U-turn, worthy of Mr May’s old show Top Gear, took place. This was accompanied by government intervention.
People don’t call the IRS for no reason or for fun. The vast majority want to pay the correct amount of tax, but there are also quirks in the system that can make it complex.
I can see how a chatbot could help with simple questions and lead to *some* efficiencies – but people also want the option to speak to a human when it comes to complex financial matters.
Digital innovation will undoubtedly deliver benefits to taxpayers, but simply shutting down helplines and funneling everyone online is clearly too much, too fast.
How on earth could HMRC not see this?
As Dawn Register of accountancy firm BDO says: “It’s hard to imagine a time when taxes were so simple and HMRC’s online systems worked so well that human helplines would no longer be necessary. »
It’s hard to imagine a time when taxes were so simple and HMRC’s online systems worked so well that human helplines would no longer be necessary.
Our reporter Angharad Carrick has been at the forefront of putting HMRC to the test over the past year, particularly from an entrepreneurial perspective – and she revealed last June how it would close its self-assessment telephone line until September.
She then spoke to an insider to unmask the taxman’s problems and was told a “culture of fear” and too much micromanagement was leading to pressure on HMRC.
She then revealed that when the phone line reopened in September, call wait times of more than an hour were common, showing how the backlog had grown.
Some new business owners have had to wait months just to register for VAT and after reporting on a litany of reading problems, she argued that HMRC delays needed to be fixed or we would lose entrepreneurs .
Indeed, Enterprise Nation’s Daniel Woolf said: “Small businesses already face a lot of uncertainty – it’s having a negative impact on growth.
James May: The TV presenter recently tweeted about companies not answering their phones
“This about-face on changes to the availability of tax support will not have helped.
“It is essential that the UK Tax Office has a high level of customer service to help small business owners manage their tax affairs.
“Contractors are happy to fulfill their regulatory obligations and need a reliable year-round service that can answer their questions and deal with complex issues.”
More and more individuals are also being drawn into the tax net. For example, HMRC is cracking down on online retailers who use digital platforms to make extra money.
At the same time, the project is expanding Making Tax Digital to 1 million homeowners and sole traders, with experts warning it could cause big delays.
Finally, the increase in the number of taxpayers and the complexity of tax matters mean that HMRC is “struggling to cope”, according to a recent report from the Public Accounts Committee.
Mix all the above ingredients together and it barely sounds: let’s close some of our helplines almost immediately.
The average waiting time for HMRC’s helpline was 25 minutes in January, according to its monthly performance report.
No one would choose to spend hours waiting on a helpline if they could easily find the answer they were looking for online.
Gary Ashford – Chartered Institute of Taxation
This is an increase from 22 minutes 46 seconds in December 2023 and 20 minutes 21 seconds in January 2023 – at the same time, call volumes fell by 12% annually.
Additionally, the volume of calls unanswered due to lack of resources reached 841,945 in January, an increase of 188 percent in one month.
The number of online discussions during the same period reached 171,379, a monthly increase of 90 percent and an annual jump of 198 percent.
Gary Ashford, president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, said: “Although most agents and taxpayers want to be able to interact online, the necessary functionality does not yet exist and online advice does not help taxpayers find answers they are looking for. .
“No one would choose to spend hours waiting on a helpline if they could easily find the answer they were looking for online.
“What HMRC needs to do is make its online services – advice, digital assistant and, if necessary, online chat with an HMRC adviser – attractive enough for people to choose to use them rather than the telephone alternative.
“They will then be able to reduce their phone lines without risking compliance.”
This U-turn from HMRC has really made our tax administration look ridiculous.
As the Treasury Committee said: “Planned changes to the operation of HMRC’s telephone lines have been poorly managed from the start. »
Let me know if you find it impossible to talk to a human in government organizations, hospitals, retail conglomerates and utility companies, as Mr. May says.
Maybe we can put pressure on them to put a stop to our chatbot madness.
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