HMRC Self-Assessment Helpline slammed for not helping callers

A business consultancy claims the HMNRC Self-Assessment helpline - set up to assist those compiling and filing tax returns as the deadline nears - is actually refusing to help many who call.

Hargreaves Lansdown’s personal finance head, Sarah Coles, says: “This year, if you try to contact HMRC with a query it feels can be solved easy online, it won’t help unless you’re a vulnerable customer. It means if you call for things like updating your personal details, checking if your self-assessment registration has been done or asking for your unique taxpayer reference number, you’ll be sent to the website instead. 

“On the one hand, it removes the endless irritation of hanging on the phone. On the other, it could take longer for you to track these things down. It’s why it’s worth making a start while you have some time on your hands over Christmas.”

Coles says her analysis of last year’s filing data shows that 22,060 people submitted their tax return between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, including 141 people filed between 11pm and midnight on Christmas Eve.

The peak hour over the three days was between midday and 1pm on Boxing Day, when 953 returns were filed – but 319 were filed at the same time on Christmas Day.

At the start of January this year, 5.7m people still hadn’t filed their tax returns and some 36,767 people filed in the last hour before the deadline last January.

This year, between 11 December and the deadline, the self-assessment helpline won’t deal with queries that can be easily sorted online – unless the caller has access difficulties. This accounted for around a third of calls last December and January.

Coles says: “Thousands of people will get their tax return done and dusted over the Christmas break. Last year 319 did it during Christmas lunch. This year, now HMRC has said its helpline won’t help with simple queries, it makes even more sense to take advantage of the break – while you have plenty of time to work through things on your own. It’s up to you whether to pick Christmas Day.”

She’s giving six tips to landlords and others who need to compile self-assessment returns, urging them to get the work done over the Christmas period.

1) It gives you time to get into the system - When you sign up to file your return online for the first time, you’ll need to sign up for the Government Gateway, and wait for your code to arrive by post. If you’re in this position, at least do this over the break, so you’re ready to get started in the new year. If you’ve used the system before, sign in now and check you haven’t forgotten your log-in details. If you can’t remember your details, you can take the time to reset them, and if you enter the wrong code five times and are locked out, the fact your account will be locked for two hours is far less devastating than if you were doing this at 11pm on January 31;

2) You have time (and possibly help) to get to grips with the new tools - Now that the helpline is offering less support, there’s an awful lot of online information, but you’ll need to get familiar with it. This includes everything from new tools to a digital assistant – which can either be very helpful or extremely frustrating. There are also lots of guidance notes and help sheets, plus YouTube videos if you prefer to learn that way. You can even download the new app to file your return. For some people, this will all be straightforward, for others Christmas is a good opportunity to get some help from any tech-savvy members of your family;

3) There’s time to make up for shoddy admin - If you’re not great at filing, you can stagger the process, and close the admin gaps gradually. Day one could be about tracking down paperwork, and ordering copies of anything you can’t find. This includes details of interest on savings accounts and dividends on shares outside an ISA, pension statements, plus proof of any employment income and benefits. If you work for yourself, you’ll want bank statements, sales invoices, receipts for expenses and paying-in books. If you received income from letting property, you need letting agreements, and bills for expenses and management fees. Day two might be to tackle your receipts – especially if you keep them in a pile, or at the bottom of a drawer;

4) You can delve into the details and claim everything you can - Check you are claiming for all the reliefs and exemptions available to you. This includes pension tax relief and gift aid for higher rate taxpayers. If you’re self-employed, there are some expenses you may normally overlook, so check the small print and see if you can reclaim it. This includes everything from printer toner to car breakdown cover and parking and a share of housing costs if you work from home (including heating, electricity and council tax);

5) You have longer to find the money - The earlier you do your tax return, the longer you have to find the cash to pay your bill. By this stage, it doesn’t give you a vast amount of time to save. However, it does give you an opportunity to weigh up your options if you can’t afford your bill. As long as you file the paperwork within 60 days of the deadline (and as long as you don’t owe more than £30,000), you’ll have the opportunity to use a Time-to-Pay arrangement to spread the cost of your tax bill over the following 12 months. However, bear in mind you are charged interest and that this rises every time the base rate does, so right now debts attract interest at eight per cent;

6) You have time for tax planning - In most cases, anything you do now will affect the following year’s tax return, but there are few ‘carry back’ opportunities, which will cut your bill for the year you’re filing a return for. If you give money to charity using gift aid, the charity will reclaim basic rate tax, but higher and additional rate taxpayers need to claim the difference through their tax return. 

Any gift aid donation you make up until the day you file your tax return can be included in your previous year’s return, so you can make a donation now, and include it in the tax return you’re filing. This is particularly useful if your income is going to fall this year, because you can claim gift aid in a year when you were paying a higher rate of tax.

Another carry back rule applies if you’ve invested in an Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) in the current tax year, and you want to carry back income tax relief of 30 per cent to the previous year. You can’t claim back more relief than the tax you have paid, so this is particularly useful if you won’t earn enough to offset the tax relief this year.

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