CEOs Welcome: Working on your behalf

Back in July 2022, and in response to a joint professional bodies letter on their service levels, HMRC stated: ‘We aim to answer all calls to the agent dedicated line (ADL) within 10 minutes and our data shows that we rarely exceed this.’ However, you have been telling us that in recent months HMRC have rarely fulfilled this aim. It therefore did not come as a surprise (although it was still very disappointing to learn) that on 2 October HMRC dropped its commitment to the 10 minute waiting time.

HMRC stated that it would instead provide new call-waiting information which would be based on waiting times from the previous day. This should, in theory, provide agents with more realistic and accurate advance warning of waiting times when calling the ADL.

At the same time, HMRC said that it would be re-routing PAYE queries on the ADL to the main public helplines, and that it would like agents to use the Income Record Viewer service to obtain client information such as P45 and P60 details (see tinyurl.com/nh5snhm9).

We know how vital it is for agents to be able to speak to HMRC to discuss their clients’ cases in a timely fashion, so we welcome your continued comments on how you find using the ADL, as this helps to inform our own feedback to HMRC. Please continue to send details of your experiences to atttechnical@att.org.uk or technical@ciot.org.uk. We have several meetings with HMRC’s senior executives in the coming months and will continue to raise these matters on your behalf.

On 22 November, Jeremy Hunt is due to issue his second Autumn Statement, providing the country with an update on the government’s plans for the economy based on the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The CIOT and ATT have both made pre-Autumn Statement representations to government on areas as diverse as the tax treatment of crypto assets and requesting increases in the approved mileage allowance payments (AMAPs). You can find these on our websites.

The CIOT held debates at both the Labour and Conservative party conferences in October with our colleagues at the IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies). Focusing on tax and public finance challenges facing Britain, there were some lively discussions and you can access the recordings on our YouTube page at tinyurl.com/2hz73ew5. There is also a report from this year’s party conferences by George Crozier on page xx.

For those looking for training and development, there is still time to join the ATT/AAT Sharpen Your Tax Skills on 8 or 24 November where Makayla Combes and the ATT technical team will update us on recent topical tax changes, including plenty of practical and interactive examples. You can register for the event at tinyurl.com/jvstvtzz

Elsewhere, the Branch Network has some fabulous webinars coming up. On 29 November, there’s a professional skills webinar on ‘Networking … (for people who don’t like networking)’ and on 7 December we have a more traditional webinar on ‘Exemptions and reliefs for stamp duty land tax (SDLT)’.

The Branches Network is designed to provide high-quality yet affordable courses to help you develop your technical expertise and obtain CPD, as well as providing fantastic networking opportunities with like-minded professionals.

If you would like to get more actively involved in your local branch, you can contact your branch direct or let us know at branches@tax.org.uk.