HMRC’s dedicated helpline for accountants and other tax agents has been out of commission since the first half of 2020. It relaunches on 14 June 2021 with a promise of extra digital services. What’s the full story?
The Agent Dedicated Line provides priority access for agents to HMRC’s support services. It’s trialling the relaunched service from 14 June 2021, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm on 0300 200 3311. HMRC’s target is to answer calls within ten minutes but hopefully quicker. To help the service run smoothly it’s asking agents to spread calls over the day rather than phoning as soon as the helpline opens.
While the return of the dedicated line is welcome news, HMRC’s press release points out that many of its services can be accessed online, such as checking previous correspondence, and it will therefore not deal with calls on those topics.
HMRC is promising additional and improved digital services to help agents including: forms processing, agent authorisation and an income record viewer. The tools are still being tested but should be available later this year.
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