HMRC has recently published Large Business Panel Survey 2014 (see www.bit.ly/1O3aAAO), which details HMRC’s research on large UK businesses’ experiences of dealing with HMRC, their views on the administration of tax policy and wider influences on their attitudes to tax. The key findings are:
Changes in customer relationship managers or point of contact were cited as a problem among some respondents. One respondent told HMRC: ‘[We] had a very, very good CRM who cleared a lot of issues but that is going back 3 years. He moved on within HMRC and he was replaced with a CRM which, although my boss has met, I have never met; we heard nothing from him since. We have since found out from our auditors that he has now moved on and we now have another CRM who we haven’t met.’
Most large business customers felt that HMRC administers the tax system fairly, though a few businesses perceived the reduction in resources at HMRC over the last few years had started to erode some of their confidence. ‘HMRC don’t seem to work to any deadlines, they respond whenever it suits them which does not seem fair’, said one. ‘It seems that they [HMRC] are under a lot of pressure and haven’t got time,’ answered another. ‘They are short-staffed and under-resourced.’
‘Historically we have had a very good relationship with HMRC,’ said a third. ‘In the last 12 months HMRC has become more aggressive, we’ve seen a drop in the level of trust that they are prepared to show towards us… where previously we have had quick resolutions, [now] what we are seeing is more and more requests for data and information but less and less action on the back of it.’
HMRC has recently published Large Business Panel Survey 2014 (see www.bit.ly/1O3aAAO), which details HMRC’s research on large UK businesses’ experiences of dealing with HMRC, their views on the administration of tax policy and wider influences on their attitudes to tax. The key findings are:
Changes in customer relationship managers or point of contact were cited as a problem among some respondents. One respondent told HMRC: ‘[We] had a very, very good CRM who cleared a lot of issues but that is going back 3 years. He moved on within HMRC and he was replaced with a CRM which, although my boss has met, I have never met; we heard nothing from him since. We have since found out from our auditors that he has now moved on and we now have another CRM who we haven’t met.’
Most large business customers felt that HMRC administers the tax system fairly, though a few businesses perceived the reduction in resources at HMRC over the last few years had started to erode some of their confidence. ‘HMRC don’t seem to work to any deadlines, they respond whenever it suits them which does not seem fair’, said one. ‘It seems that they [HMRC] are under a lot of pressure and haven’t got time,’ answered another. ‘They are short-staffed and under-resourced.’
‘Historically we have had a very good relationship with HMRC,’ said a third. ‘In the last 12 months HMRC has become more aggressive, we’ve seen a drop in the level of trust that they are prepared to show towards us… where previously we have had quick resolutions, [now] what we are seeing is more and more requests for data and information but less and less action on the back of it.’