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9am Lowdown: HMRC service takes centre stage at London event

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6th Sep 2016
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The big event on Monday was HMRC's rescheduled Stakeholder Conference in London, where professional representatives were assured that the department wants to maintain an open and constructive dialogue. Over at the High Courts, a different dialogue was taking place with one of the BHS owner's other companies.

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HMRC service takes centre stage at stakeholder conference

HMRC chief executive Jon Thompson signalled the tenor of his regime at the tax department’s stakeholder conference in London yesterday by vowing to staff HMRC’s helplines 12 hours a day for seven days a week.

Or, as the Daily Mail reported it, “The taxman is set to open 12 hours a day, seven days a week in a desperate bid to improve its much-criticised customer service.”

HMRC’s call waiting times have become a key indicator of customer service quality. Thinks have improved since October 2015 when average waiting times peaked at 47 minutes ahead of the self assessment paper deadline. Since then HMRC has shifted more staff to the helplines and continues to focus on improving in this area.

Thomson told the conference: “I believe we can reduce waiting times further. I also believe we should be open between 8am and 8pm for seven days a week, an aspiration I think this organisation should be able to deliver in the next year or so.”

As part of the service improvement initiative, he also said the tax department would take on 9,000 more staff.

The event also featured a speech from the new Financial Secretary to the Treasury Jane Ellison, who speciously claimed HMRC had used its new accelerated payment notice powers to raise £3bn “to deliver our public services”.

Thanks to PwC UK’s international tax network leader Stella Amiss and Deloitte’s Bill Dodwell for bringing Thomson’s pledges to our attention in their tweets from the event.

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BHS satellite company faces HMRC winding-up order

HMRC has filed a High Court petition to wind up Swiss Rock Limited, the company involved in Dominic Chappell’s acquisition of BHS, reports The Guardian.

Swiss Rock has reportedly been placed in the hands of administrator David Rubin & Partners. HMRC was quoted as saying it initiated the action as “the best way to protect both the interests of other taxpayers and creditors”.

BHS closed its last stores just over a week ago after going into administration in April.  Chappell had acquired the high street chain a year earlier from Sir Philip Green but was unable to reverse its decline, or bring its growing pension deficit under control. By the time BHS went into administration, the deficit was estimated at £571m.

MPs on the Commons work and pensions committee lambasted Sir Philip, Chappell and their advisers Grant Thornton and PwC in a July report for failing to fully investigate the risks surrounding the transaction and “leaving the company and its pension fund weakened to the point of the inevitable collapse”.

The case was scheduled for hearing on Monday.

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Leonard Curtis crosses into legal services

Professional services provider Leonard Curtis has branched out to provide legal services, making it one of the first UK multidisciplinary practices to take advantage of changing regulation in this area.

Leonard Curtis’s accountancy network Lifecycle announced yesterday that the new legal service will be part of its offering.

Leonard Curtis director Daniel Booth said: “The wider group sees more and more situations that need a solution which crosses over professional disciplines and services in the SME space. Adding legal services was a natural next step for Leonard Curtis.”

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