Contacting HMRC

[BizzyMissy]

Can anyone advise on the best way to contact HMRC without calling?

Every year I do a tax return via self assessment and for the last few years I have always been due a small refund. Each year previously I have requested the refund in my return, provided bank details and had the refund credited to my bank account in 4 or 5 working days after submitting the return.

I did the same this year but no refund appeared. After a few weeks, I checked my Personal Tax Account and saw the refund due sitting as a credit. I clicked "request a refund" and four weeks later still no refund and my personal tax account is still showing the credit! I haven't changed my bank account or any personal details so no idea why the refund has not been processed so believe it's now time to follow up except there doesn't appear to be anyway to do this other than call. I haven't called for years as I usually find I can do everything I need to do online and I now see that phones are 9-5 Mon to Fri (believe you used to be able to call in the evening or Saturday mornings). Surely this can't be the only way to contact them? I have a busy job and am usually in and out of meetings so can't sit in a call queue for 40 minutes in office hours.

Any ideas? I thought there might be secure messaging in the personal tax account but there only seems to be an inbox. Thanks!

There is now a ‘digital assistant’ who can pass you on to an advisor for webchat, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm:

https://www.gov.uk/find-hmrc-contacts/self-assessment-general-enquiries

I phoned them. I hung on 20 minutes & then was cut off without speaking to a soul.
The HMRC is broken.
The UK is broken.
Civil Servants should get back into their offices.

Do you even know if the HMRC people on the helpline WFH?

Cutting off isn't limited to HMG services either.

Thanks, I will try this in the hope that i can communicate with a human as the online "request a refund" hasn't worked and I would like to find out what the problem is rather than simply request the refund again (for the third time).

Have you checked HMRC app communications tab and form checker. It showed as in progress when I requested a refund then response there when completed.

Thanks; I just checked but it is not showing any forms. I saved down the submission request when I requested a refund through my Personal Tax account so I know it was submitted. I submitted a refund request on 6 May so would expect it to show by now. When I look at the self assessment tab in the app it still shows my credit with a button saying I can request a refund but not sure there is any point trying thid again without speaking to anyone

Tell them you are trans, you'll get access to a special help line.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/hmrc-gives-trans-people-access-to-vip-hotline/

Using assumption that you applied online not post it states in the when you should recieve reply tool it states you should have received a reply by 20 May HMRC, the credit can still show whilst they issue it and they may need further 12 weeks after the 20th May to issue the repayment also if you have submission reference to not re request it. If you haven’t recieved reply it opens a tab with generic contact details.

No, don’t.

Being in PD1, the alleged “special helpline”, makes it even more of a nightmare to contact HMRC. Usually taxpayers in PD1 can’t have online access and if you phone you get bounced around teams until you get to speak to someone who can actually help.

My husband has the same problem

Firstly Google "when can I expect a response from HMRC" because I can't remember the exact link. Fill in the calculator and don't bother contacting HMRC before the date it gives you as they will refuse to look into it for you. It is this date they work from not any expected timeframe you have already been given.

Once the date for an expected response has passed use the HMRC webchat for Self Assessment it is a bot to begin with but if you type in "speak to an agent" enough times in response to the questions you do get an actual person.

Thanks, I will try this. The reply date has passed.

Sorry to hear that. It's very frustrating. I've never had a problem getting refunds for overdue tax previously. Maybe systems have changed.

I rang HMRC for quite a specific issue re tax, pension and redundancy payment and despite speaking to 2 different persons they couldn’t answer my question. They advised me to write in , and gave me this address: HMRC BX9 1AS. It’s so charmingly analogue I’m going to give it a go.

I had the exact same issue. The helpline just told me to claim it again… that was worth waiting an hour on hold for 🙄

I wrote a complaint so a human would have to deal with it. They sorted it all out within a month and said the reason it hadn’t worked when I claimed the money from my personal tax account was because they wanted to check something on the self-assessment. There was nothing to indicate this on the personal tax account pages. It’s all very frustrating.

I lost my Dad earlier this year and I’ve got to complete his self assessment. I’m absolutely dreading it. I know that no one at HMRC will be of any help despite it being a massive undertaking to do someone else’s self assessment.

My 89 year old mother refuses to do her tax return online and never phones HMRC. She always writes to them and they reply by letter, usually fairly promptly.

That’s good to hear! 🤞. I once rang them up because I genuinely didn’t understand self assessment, eventually got through to someone who understood my situation and did their best to explain. I then received a letter about a month later, outlining the relevant points.

With absolute joy I can tell you I received my refund today about 10 weeks after I first requested it. Informed the delay was due to a security check. Unhelpfully they don't tell you anything is needed. It took me contacting them three times for them to remove the marker on my account and process the refund. I actually found digital assistant marginally easier than phone which was frequently cut off.

Good luck.

I'm ex HMRC staff, the service now is the pits, so many offices that provided excellent service have been closed in favour of processing factories. When I started you had a named person who dealt with everything, you could go in & speak face to face, they call it progress.

I called them from overseas a couple of weeks ago, there was a bit of a wait but the whole call was done and dusted in under 40 minutes and both people I spoke to couldn't have been more helpful.

Yup, nail on the head. Closing all the local offices and centralising into a hand full of huge contact centres killed the service, as huge numbers of experienced staff were made redundant when they didn't want to relocate from their towns and cities to the (usually) out of town contact centres often huge distances away.

It limped along but Covid killed it stone dead with so many staff WFH (or claiming to). Now phoning up is a lottery as to whether anyone will ever answer the phone, and if so, whether you'll be able to communicate due to dog barking, kids crying, doorbells ringing, or even if it's quiet, the phone line signal is often poor, or if you can communicate, they often say their internet is bad and can't log in or it's too slow, etc. And even if you get through all that, more often than not, they can't help and say they'll send a message to the relevant dept which, more often than not, is ignored and you never hear back from them and have to go through the whole sodding thing again.

I'm been an accountant for 43 years, and can't wait to retire. It's never been as bad to deal with HMRC as it is these days. My heart sinks when I realise I have to talk to someone. Luckily most things can be done online via software or their web portals but there are still times I have to ring, and it's painful.

That’s not accurate. Staff are mandated in the office 60%.

And yes they have reduced to fewer regional centres but they’re very deliberately in city centres/transport hubs.

The wait for phone service is not acceptable I agree. Problem is they pay people minimum wage to answer sometimes quite complex tax questions and they treat them like cattle and so not many stick around for long.

Yup,

The entire Civil Service is 60% in the office.

How, as a one size fits all solution, that's improving public service is another question.

I spent 18 months working 100% from home in a distributed call centre doing welfare rights advice. How would my service be improved adding commute time and hassle to my working day?

60% in the office? Most new offices don't have enough desks for 60%, I know someone who moved to Nottingham when our office closed who has to do 2 days a week at Leeds as there aren't enough desks, you have to wait for someone to leave or die to get a desk.

I can honestly say it is no better doing my job in the office compared to home. If there’s a specific thing I need to be in for then I arrange my diary as such but I often find myself struggling to get enough peace to focus there.

The extra 90 mins a day rushing to and from the office certainly doesn’t help anyone.