Revenue efficiency drive blamed for rebate delays

Taxpayers are waiting up to three months for repayments of overpaid tax, as
frustration mounts over errors and delays at HM Revenue & Customs, the
Financial Times has reported.

Six out of 10 tax advisers said they had spent more time and money dealing
with Revenue service problems over the past year, according to a poll by the
ICAEW institute, the newspaper said.

It put much of the blame on HMRC’s efficiency drive, which has seen the
closure of local offices and the loss of many experienced staff as it cuts
costs, in real terms, by 5% cent a year.

The ICAEW was quoted by the FT as saying: ‘We remain concerned that the
laudable aims of the government are not being realised ‘on the ground’. We are
very concerned that the effect of the efficiency programme is that, taken as a
whole, the level of customer services has not improved and, in some areas, has
deteriorated.

The Revenue rejected this, telling the FT that its quality monitoring
‘demonstrated that performance had not been adversely affected, and that in some
areas, performance had improved substantially’.

Its drive for greater efficiency, it said, was being achieved by ‘modernising
and re-engineering work processes, cutting out waste and enhancing leadership
performance’.

Revenue
efficiency drive blamed for delays