What an embarrassment: HMRC won’t recover £19bn in unpaid taxes from people who want to pay.

According to Business Matters,

the total amount of unpaid taxes has surged to £43 billion—nearly three times the level seen before the pandemic. The proportion of these debts deemed unlikely to be recovered has jumped to 45 per cent, up from 32 per cent the previous year, due to the accumulation of older debts and prevailing economic conditions that have severely impacted businesses and individuals.

The report also revealed alarming shortcomings in HMRC’s customer service. Every service target set by the previous government has been missed, with taxpayers facing unprecedented delays and frustration. Nearly 56,000 customers were cut off after waiting for over an hour on hold—an almost sevenfold increase from the 6,900 affected the previous year. The average waiting time for phone calls rose to 23 minutes and 14 seconds, a 42 per cent increase compared to last year.

So people who have called up their tax office in order to sort out their payments – people who genuinely want to do their bit and pay their way – are being turned away by the system.

What’s the betting that they’ll be vilified as tax dodgers in the future, when HMRC has got its act together?

And let’s not forget: if it was £19 or even 19p of mispaid benefit payments, the government would collect it all – with extreme prejudice. Perhaps HMRC needs advice from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Source: HMRC concedes £19bn in unpaid taxes unlikely to be recovered amidst soaring call centre failures

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