HMRC has announced that its self assessment phoneline will close between April and September every year following a trial of the move in 2023, while also making permanent cuts to the VAT and PAYE helplines.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is today announcing changes to its services as it continues encouraging customers to get the information they need and carry out their transactions online wherever possible.
Changes to helpline services to encourage people to go online first have been successfully trialled over the last year and are being rolled out to become a permanent feature of the way HMRC supports customers from 8 April 2024.
The changes are:
- between April and September, the Self Assessment helpline will be closed and customers will be directed to self-serve through HMRC’s highly-rated online services
- between October and March the Self Assessment helpline will be open to deal with priority queries – customers with queries that can be quickly and easily resolved online will be directed to HMRC’s online services
- the VAT helpline will be open for 5 days every month ahead of the deadline for filing VAT returns – outside of this time, customers will be directed to use HMRC’s online services
- the PAYE helpline will no longer take calls from customers relating to refunds – customers will be directed to use HMRC’s online services
- HMRC advisers will continue to always be available during normal office opening hours to support customers who cannot use online services or who have health or personal circumstances that mean they need extra support
- all other helplines will continue to operate as they do currently
