Services will get better, HMRC official pledges. By Dan Martin

Round Objects!

This is all very well and I for one congratulate HMRC on making this announcement. But...one might think that it would be a good idea if interested parties could easily contact Julian. Ooooh no. Do a search on his name at HMRC and up comes....NOTHING. Run through the press officer listings....NOTHING.

If Julian is reading this then might I suggest:
1. Provide a point of contact
2. Connect with taxpayers organisations as well as the professional community
3. Provide an issues forum
4. Hook up and aggregate with the professionals out there that care about tax issues and the communities they serve.

|It is eminently do-able and would provide a great way for HMRC to demonstrate that it wants to engage with stakeholders.

Will this cover the problem I discovered yesterday that the codes which agents need to enter within 28 days were being sent out more than 28 days after registration.

One of my clients received his code yesterday (December 1) and it was dated October 29!

Why the hell is the time limit not based on when the letter is issued ( which means put in the letter box)?

Yes, doing it all on line sounds fantastic.

How many hours have we, a relatively small practice, spent, trying to get the on line services to work?

The answer is as long as a piece of string.

HMRC has a long way to go to convince us their pledge will hold water.

I would like to invite Mr Hatt to spend a day at my small practice.

During his visit I will take him through a large number of cases where my time has been wasted by an unhelpful official, a failure of the system or a combination of both. On most of these occasions of course it has been time that I cannot charge anybody for.

If he would be agreeable I will attempt to set up a number of meetings with clients who have suffered as a result of there being nobody in authority who has even the slightest idea of what it is actually like to run a small business and to try to make a living.

Invitation postponed until February of course.

It is notable that Mr Hatt has not responded to Dennis Howlett's challenge - so either he is not in touch with what must be one of the most active forums for accountants - or else he choses not to be available for public dialogue. Either way it does not bode well for his declared objective.

I strongly suspect yet another headline grabbing iniative from Government that will do absolutely nothing to improve matters.

Julian reached out to me today and we are due to have a conversaton next Thursday. That was the earliest date we could arrange.

I see this as an excellent opportunity to convey constructive thoughts about how the profession, interested parties and media of this kind might usefully engage.

I am soliciting questions professionals would like to raise that deal with the issue of communications. It would be unreasonable to assume Julian can field specific questions on legislation or HMRC practices.

I believe that communications is a key tool in solving many of the pressing problems professionals face. If readers would like to leave questions here or contact me direct I will be monitoring this post over the coming days.

email: dahowlett@gmail.com