Martin McTague
National Chair, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)
The UK’s 5.5 million small businesses lose 280 million hours and £25 billion annually to tax compliance,1 with huge productivity gains possible by reducing this burden.
A swift and responsive customer services system from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) would be a huge help. People who run small firms want to pay the correct amount of tax and can feel enormous levels of anxiety following innocent mistakes. This level of stress is compounded by the length of time it often takes to correct even simple errors.
Digital tax shift challenges
As HMRC invests in its digital channels, builds up its knowledge bank of online resources and explores how artificial intelligence can be deployed in a way that is smart and user-friendly, more of its customer service contacts can be expected to move away from more traditional contact methods. However, there will always be a strong argument for providing some channels that allow humans to talk to other humans, rather than a computer, especially where sensitive and complex areas like tax are concerned.
A National Audit Office report on HMRC’s customer services noted that telephone and correspondence services ‘have been falling below the expected service levels for too long’ while the tax authority’s push to shift more customer service enquiries to digital channels was ‘too aggressive,’ especially while demand for contact remained high.
Making it easier to resolve tax
queries will help small firms.
Flexible customer service needed
While HMRC’s web presence and digital services contain a lot of information, there are times when only speaking to a real person will do, especially regarding complicated queries.
This is not to say that HMRC’s digital offering does not have a part to play — far from it. Small businesses rightly expect and demand a flexible mix of customer service channels from the tax authority, so that they can choose the method which works best for them.
Making it easier to resolve tax queries will help small firms become confident they have paid the right amount, reduce the burden of stress they are under and raise the UK’s productivity levels.
[1] Federation of Small Businesses, 2021. A Duty to Reform.
