Hmrc Arvostelua 

First off you should be able to give zero or even minus stars. What a complete waste of time and our money this system is. Totally not fit for purpose. You wait for ages 45 minutes for a human to answer, you then get a very quietly spoken person with a foreign accent you can't hear or understand. You explain your problem, don't get any real help, just told to fill in a certain form and wait 30 days for a response, 30 bloody days, But THEY Take the wrong tax off you immediately. And then after they've fobbed you off and sent you on your way, you find out it's the wrong form information they have given you. I have just wasted a whole morning with these clowns. This is our tax money they are using to provide this incompetence, we should be able to backcharge HMRC for our time and frustrations they heap on us. The big problem is there is no one else to go to , to try and get their incompetence put right. P.s. had to put Richard as it wouldn't accept the name we know him by. Laughable isn't it?

Thank you Gemma, you were absolutely amazing and got everything sorted with no issues, I highly recommend and thank you again for your services

Extremely incompetent!

I've been desperately trying to file an online tax return, but my account keeps showing an error. Today is day 58 of trying to deal with it (emails and phone), and I've had no luck. They're completely ignoring it and not taking it seriously. At this point, I'm afraid for all our private data, as the GOC.UK HMRC Digital Technical Support Team clearly doesn't know what they're doing or how to fix a small error.

I've made numerous phone calls, but they're clueless when it comes to any kind of assistance, just keep getting passed back and forth between equally unhelpful departments.

The lack of helpfulness and proper assistance is frustrating, and it feels like my concerns aren't taken seriously. The service appears unprofessional and indifferent.

They have owed me £1700 since Jan 2025. They refuse to give me my money

Who is employing the people on HMRC call centre. 3 different phone calls to ask about tax advice on my pension. 3 totally conflicting answers. Totally unprofessional staff, inept at their jobs, appalling. Its so frightening to think we are having to rely on this dreadful level of incompetency for our incomes. Poor vulnerable sods like us are at the mercy of this broken system , while the rich get richer and escape to tax exile countries 😢

I Needed to change my mobile number so i can receive my self assessment access code i explained that i could not provide 2 forms of ID online to be able to change it myself because i have mislaid my Passport but had my driving licence. I got past around like pass the parcel to different numbers each one telling me that 'This department will be able to help you' which they did not. Each time i had to ring a different number the waiting time to speak to someone was crazy and all in all yesterday i spent over 3 hours trying to get any sense out of em only to be told the only way i could file my returns without logging into my online account would be to have a paper version sent out to me and for me to return it by post but to get that sorted was yet another different number but by then it was past 5pm and that department was closed so i have to go through a no doubt long waiting game again tomorrow. Totally disgusting i aint looking forward to my phone bill. They have enough of my personal details to be able to change my mobile number their end so i can just log in an get it done.

Very poor customer service staff ring the 35 minutes to speak to someone ask them the question which your enquiring about all you get is people who have not got a clue as to what they are talking about and whrn you challenge them they then say oh mr so and so you have an attitude and hang up on you these jokers need to be sacked

24/4/26 Rang @ 08:24. Useless auto BOT at start followed by numerous recorded messages. Susan answered at 09:01 stating very happily that a 37 minute wait time is good !!! > put on hold @ 09:02 with no follow up, followed by a message at 09:09 saying " thanks for calling, goodbye " Infuriating and as crap and useless as always

I called and spoke to Sonia today and would like to thank this lady for explaining to me in detail the reason for my call (not to divugle). She was so pleasant to speak to and fully explained where I had been going clearly wrong with my submissions! This lady should be training other staff possibly, she has saved me great hassle that I know I would have come up against in the future.
By the way, I have never had bad service from HMRC staff, I know they are dealing with a mass of customers and that is overlooked by the G. Public.
An Agent

Just trying to pay a £125 bill.
Impossible to use the absolutely terrible web site.
No wonder hmrc are so badly hated

Just received a demand that my deceased in laws complete a self assessment tax return. My father in law passed away in 2019, my mother in law just last year. We used the Tell Us Once service each time. My husband has just been chased as his mother's personal representative for further payments (though hmrc have her name slightly different in the latest demand) so I'm at a loss as to what further they could possibly want right now?! Very upsetting and frustrating as we're dragged through our losses yet again and not able to simply call or email to put things straight. All on top of the already difficult times of dealing with these losses and the life changes thereafter.

I spoke with a customer service advisor JULIA today because Iwanted tonrwgistwr fir my Self assessment and gwt a UTR number and she was very apt friendly and resolved my issues perfectly. She is a super hero. I do reccommebd hwr for a promotion. I am customer servuce and relationship manegment expert. I gave her a 100% excellent service

The HMRC computer made a change to my Tax Code and sent an updated code to my pension provider which was incorrect causing me to be placed on basic rate tax. For the last 5 months i have made endless calls to HMRC each time being assured it has now been rectified. Still hasn't been sorted. Complaint lodged, no response. Several hours on the webchat and told to make a further complaint. I'm sure if I owed 5 months worth of money it would have been sorted by now.

It's a miricle if anyone answers there phones. Staff have no customer service or people skills. Beware if you are a employee on PAYE. If your company doesn't pay the due deductions these vultures will come knocking your door and you will end up paying for someone elses incompetence.

Received a tax demand May 2025 which I paid in November 2025 and this cheque was cashed within a few days of me sending, in April 2026 I received a letter stating they needed proof of payment, I was astonished to learn that they don't keep track of cheques they are cashing so called HMRC, I was told the cheque had been cashed which I already knew and the excuse given was the cheque and correspondence I sent with it had been separated, someone had picked up the letter approx 4 months later and then without checking they demanded that I prove I'd paid! I can only hope the HMRC are better than this but it makes me question if they have my records up to date.

So I was fined for late payment of a tax return which is fair enough. However, I receive all my information by mail as it's easier to keep records. They decided to send the letter notifying me of the fine 3 months later so interest could accrue. Apparently this is perfectly fine in their eyes and entirely legal.
I then attempted to call them to ask if the interest could be waived as I was not informed about it until early April.
The robot that they make you talk to barely understands what you are saying and if you try to contact them about a fine inquiry they hang up on you automatically.
The first sentence the robot repeats tells you to literally "hang up" and go on their website. This isn't bad service, it's an absolute lack of it.
It's everything wrong with the hole of a country.

HMRC are a fairly poor organisation, in my experience. If I was a billionaire and could hire an accountant, I'm sure I would be delighted with them letting me off paying any taxes at all. Sadly, I am a struggling retiree with not much in the way of income, so, naturally, it's very important for them to tax my already Actuarily Reduced Teachers Pension (£440 per month) at 20% and turn it into £350 per month instead. I accepted that and took it on the chin but then came the fact that I had to go onto Self Assessment because I receive part of my income as a gift from a former family member who could pull the plug on that payment any time. Coincidentally, that is £440 per month as well. Not a King's Ransom!
That isn't the problem either : the problem is that I can't get onto the online site to fill in my tax form because I don't have the required 12 digit number. When I call them to get it I am told they cannot give it out over the phone. Presumably, I have to get online (which I cannot do because I don't have the 12 digits code) in order to get the 12 digit code. What an absolute farce! So, why don't I ask them to send me a paper copy by post? Been there, done that, and still no paper copy. I used to be a Teacher, and I'm sorry to say that HMRC have totally failed the test. **Updated on 11th May 2026** I have now received the SA form through the post, so I've decided to amend my assessment. I found the form to be inadequate for the task. I was able to put my State Pension, as there was a space for that, but the two halves of actuarily reduced Ts Pension + another tiny private pension had to be lumped together. It just seemed like a mess

Tried to submit my self assessment return on line. Have had 2 gateway numbers issued and when submitted they did not recognise either ! ! So I will continue to submit paper returns. Don't know why I am surprised at HMRC being incompetent. A chartered accountant friend submitted a capital gains return for me for the sale of a rental property. It took him over an hour as I watched him navigate the HMRC minefield.Good job their employees are paid by the taxpayer and defended by their unions.

Appalling Telephone System

What is the point of a telephone system that arbitrarily decides it has resolved you issue and hangs up on you forcing you to restart the entire process over and over again to just get a simple issue resolved.

It is appalling, for goodness sake - would it really break the bank to make it easier to speak to a real person or at least add a "Has this resolved your issue" prompt before ending the call!

Tried to report a problem with opening the P60's to complete my year end . Got connected eventually both times but got cut off both times and despite giving my number no-one called me back