Trying to get through via phone to HMRC

[red rider]

How shockingly long and frustrating it takes to get through to someone to speak to on the phone. It makes my p**s boil trying to get through to someone.

[PM3]

Just remember, its their money not yours . You are honoured to have them lower themselves to even address the plebians.

[Eric Mc]

HMRC no longer works.

I say this from experience.

[MitchT]

Utter st show.

Had to phone them once. Half an hour trying to get their abysmal voice recognition system to understand me, followed by another half an hour in a queue, followed by a recorded voice telling me they were too busy and then hanging up on me. If they were too busy then why didn't they say that in the first place instead of wasting an hour of my time on processes that were redundant if there was no one to speak to me anyway?

[cml24]

I rang them a month or so ago and I think it took about an hour in the queue.

I've rung them before a few years ago and it was really quite quick and efficient. Once I got through it was great to be fair, they were very helpful.

[Eric Mc]

cml24 said:

I rang them a month or so ago and I think it took about an hour in the queue.

I've rung them before a few years ago and it was really quite quick and efficient. Once I got through it was great to be fair, they were very helpful.

That was then. HMRC has collapsed since Brexit and Covid.

[The Ferret]

It's a complete shambles.

I'm not sure there's actually anyone working there now.

Same with DVLA.

[deckster]

The Ferret said:

It's a complete shambles.

I'm not sure there's actually anyone working there now.

Same with DVLA.

How many people work at HMRC?

Almost none of them.

</old-joke>

[ro250]

With the new tax year I imagine not the best time to be phoning them (not excusing it, just saying).

[alscar]

Whether phoning HMRC , DVLA , DWP or indeed any of HMG ‘s run entities getting through to a live person is a complete lottery.
Seemingly been this way since Covid.
WFH appears to operate except as their systems appear utter sh*t I find it hard to believe they are actually working at all.
Those in the offices are presumably limited by number.

[Edible Roadkill]

I need to phone as I’ve somehow got 2x gov gateway id’s and the one I can get into isn’t the right one for doing self assessment.

Is there any easier way to sort this out?

I called last week and the automated system hung up on me after wasting 20 mins going round in circles.

[alscar]

Edible Roadkill said:

I need to phone as I’ve somehow got 2x gov gateway id’s and the one I can get into isn’t the right one for doing self assessment.

Is there any easier way to sort this out?

I called last week and the automated system hung up on me after wasting 20 mins going round in circles.

I have a feeling that SA requires a separate gateway Id.
I seem to have acquired 4 or 5 Id’s for various things and have ended up writing them down and seeing what then works for what area !

[Eric Mc]

ro250 said:

With the new tax year I imagine not the best time to be phoning them (not excusing it, just saying).

Should not make a jot of difference.

[ro250]

Eric Mc said:

ro250 said:

With the new tax year I imagine not the best time to be phoning them (not excusing it, just saying).

Should not make a jot of difference.

Yeah it would. It's the new tax year so lots of people, such as OP, are doing their self-assessments for example, so I'd expect a peak in calls early April.

[Edible Roadkill]

alscar said:

Edible Roadkill said:

I need to phone as I’ve somehow got 2x gov gateway id’s and the one I can get into isn’t the right one for doing self assessment.

Is there any easier way to sort this out?

I called last week and the automated system hung up on me after wasting 20 mins going round in circles.

I have a feeling that SA requires a separate gateway Id.
I seem to have acquired 4 or 5 Id’s for various things and have ended up writing them down and seeing what then works for what area !

Just signed up for yet another one, tried to log into sept assessment and it’s saying I’ve got yet another one (shows last 4 digits) which I’ve no idea about.

What a riot !

[Portia5]

This is very weird (but true).

I find it IMPOSSIBLE to get connected to a human being at HMRC via the AI talking robot, unless I reply with gibberish. Literally gibberish. Then when I respond with gibberish it repeats whatever it's requested a couple of times and then gives up and connects me to a human. Bingo!

Unfortunately many/most/all of the humans appear to be WFH with poor comms and IT at their disposal, so the services they supply ain't great.

Recently I had a bizarre interaction. A large bill came by post. A bill I'd paid a couple of months previously. So I phoned them, did the gibberish thing, and got an African bloke. EVENTUALLY he managed to locate the payment. Told me it had got 'lost' because I'd put the wrong reference on it. Launched into a lecture on how to put the right reference on things Im paying. (actually later sent the lecture via surface mail a couple of days later).

I tried to suggest that rather than give people like me lectures in working out how to attach correct references to their bills, they might try a really much simpler and easier solution, namely put the 'right' reference on the bloody bill in the first place rather than a wrong reference (which is why my payment ended up 'lost').

I don't think he understood me. Plus his dog and kids were having an altercation in the background so he probably couldn't hear me too well anyway.

Havoc, really.

[Eric Mc]

ro250 said:

Yeah it would. It's the new tax year so lots of people, such as OP, are doing their self-assessments for example, so I'd expect a peak in calls early April.

No it wouldn’t.
It’s way too early for people to start submitting tax returns.
Even the earliest submitters would struggle to get all the information they need before mid May.

[Bluemondy]

Try around 08:00, or whenever they open.

I did this 3 weeks ago, spoke to a lovely and efficient lady who solved my problem nicely.

Maybe 10 mins on hold?

Give it a try

[The Leaper]

Eric Mc said:

ro250 said:

Yeah it would. It's the new tax year so lots of people, such as OP, are doing their self-assessments for example, so I'd expect a peak in calls early April.

No it wouldn’t.
It’s way too early for people to start submitting tax returns.
Even the earliest submitters would struggle to get all the information they need before mid May.

Totally agree. As a retired person I have to do SA due to the various savings accounts I have that are paid gross so I need to account for the tax on interest. There's also my private pension and I need a P60 for tax purposes. Then there's my dividends etc. The issue is that all the relevant organisations do not issue tax certificates really promptly after the end of the tax year; indeed, I have to chase them up to get the certificate in several cases. I usually cannot complete my SA until at least August each year.

Overall, I doubt if there are many people now trying to file their SA this early in the new tax year.

R.

[Gerradi]

I managed to get through, 53 minutes holding but everything sorted...just a bit of patience & less boiling piss nonsense...