https://www.icaew.com/insights/tax-news/2021/april-2021/calls-to-hmrcs-a...
Agent line 'still exists' (really?) but good news, we are now allowed to deal with 2 clients in same call, but only if HMRC have the capacity.
Has ICAEW lost it completely. I accept ICAEW is not a tax agent but surely they could talk to at least one member who is or do a google search asking about agent line.
If they did then Aweb would appear with nothing but constant complaints
Replies (13)
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The relevant paragraph of course is here:
"ICAEW’s Tax Faculty is in ongoing discussions with HMRC about restoring priority access to the ADL which was suspended at the start of the pandemic. HMRC has not yet been able to offer any indication of when priority access might be restored."
This is the main issue with the (lack of) ADL - it's not the inability to discuss multiple clients, it's the 45 minutes before anyone answers.
Would The tax fac's statement mean something different if the word 'ongoing' was deleted?
sadly they lost the plot some time ago , over institutionalised. I should have taken them to Court when i had the chance in 2008. Some of the documents that i had showed a clear conspiracy as jobsworths protected their positions.
"HMRC has confirmed that while there is no set number of clients an agent can discuss with one of its advisers, they are only able to spend an hour at a time on the phone due to health and safety requirements."
- Yet Agents are expected to wait longer than that for someone to answer listening to that blahdy on-hold music and regular assertions that "your call is important and you can find more information on the HMRC website". And of course sodslaw says that the minute you wander to the loo with your bluetooth headset on they will at long last answer!
"On taking a call, the HMRC adviser should now confirm with the agent how much time is left before their next break to allow the caller to prioritise their queries. If a call adviser doesn’t offer this information, then agents are able to ask for it."
- Q: "When's your next break?" A: "In 5 minutes, so make it quick"
"Alongside the clarification HMRC called on agents to be “pragmatic” in what can be achieved in the time available."
- the most insensitive and totally unaware comment of the whole thing. HMRC staff need a break every 60 minutes, but for Agents it's the final line from the film Argo, or the response in Pressdram v Arkell
It's a complete disgrace!
I've got to phone about a NI query and also a MA transfer query but I don't have the time to waste two hours (as two different sections of HMRC) to get these issues sorted at the moment!!
This needs to get into mainstream news and then maybe someone will take some notice but at the moment it appears that no-one actually cares or in the words of 'our leader' no-one gives a monkeys!!
"HMRC has confirmed that while there is no set number of clients an agent can discuss with one of its advisers, they are only able to spend an hour at a time on the phone due to health and safety requirements."
- Yet Agents are expected to wait longer than that for someone to answer listening to that blahdy on-hold music and regular assertions that "your call is important and you can find more information on the HMRC website". And of course sodslaw says that the minute you wander to the loo with your bluetooth headset on they will at long last answer!"On taking a call, the HMRC adviser should now confirm with the agent how much time is left before their next break to allow the caller to prioritise their queries. If a call adviser doesn’t offer this information, then agents are able to ask for it."
- Q: "When's your next break?" A: "In 5 minutes, so make it quick"
"Alongside the clarification HMRC called on agents to be “pragmatic” in what can be achieved in the time available."
- the most insensitive and totally unaware comment of the whole thing. HMRC staff need a break every 60 minutes, but for Agents it's the final line from the film Argo, or the response in Pressdram v Arkell
PDU
Enough to take up the bottle?
And Discover a world away from Hector's friends.
I was a senior TU official in HMRC for over 15 years, and was H&S rep. I couldn't recall a limit on call times for H&S purposes, but accepted that things may have changed.
It doesn't appear so, I still can't find a H&S limit. There may be other factors, but that's not what HMRC saying.
So do the ICAEW now take what HMRC say at face value, without even a modicum of research?
I didn’t realise this - are we saying that I can spend 50mins on hold to get through to an operator who could then say that they only have 5 minutes before hanging up and going in their hourly break?
Disbelief- should defo get into the mainstream press. New clients are a bit sceptical whenever I slate HMRC - communication, processes, recording ...
I gave up phoning a while ago. I can type out the letter with the request pretty quickly.
Don’t know where the impression came from but I always thought we could ask three questions in any agent line call.
Having done the three I was in the habit of asking ‘Can I ask a fourth question?’ to which the answer was always ‘no’ but obviously I had already done so.
Yes, it is petty but that’s what comes of phoning HMRC on a regular basis over four decades.