Every silver lining has a cloud
Good news: HM Revenue & Customs decided to extend the deadline for filing tax returns because some of its call-centre staff were on strike. As people wouldn’t be able to get answers to last-minute queries, they decided it wouldn’t be fair to charge penalties for two days. Computers don’t go on strike – one of the reasons managers like them – so taxpayers could still file online; but HMRC confirmed that they would treat all returns received up to midnight on 2 February as on time, even if the taxpayer wasn’t affected by the strike.
The last possible moment is not the best time to do anything, of course – things go wrong and there is no margin for error. It’s better to have the information in good time and have a chance to check it. So in an ideal world, tax staff going on strike on 31 January would have no impact. Still, last year more than half a million people filed their returns on the last available day, so the extension is important to a lot of taxpayers.
The underlying bad news is a dispute between HMRC staff and their employer. It may seem like a good thing if it helps us avoid penalties, but if it means post piles up unanswered, the phone rings off the hook and no-one tries very hard to be helpful, that makes dealing with tax much more taxing. This strike is about what the unions suspect is creeping privatisation – bringing in private-sector firms to try to reduce waiting times for telephone enquiries – but there are wider problems with HMRC morale. The department recently published a staff survey which disclosed that only 18% feel that HMRC is managed well, and only 17% have confidence in the decisions made by HMRC’s senior managers. There are some other very blunt and honest statistics in the report.
This newsletter highlights some of the good and bad news on tax from recent months. Whether HMRC’s call centres are at work or not, we’ll be happy to help you deal with the taxman.