HMRC have announced that the self assessment phoneline will close for several months between April and September every year, following a trial during 2023 – along with permanent cuts to PAYE and VAT helplines.
Between April and September, self-assessment customers will be directed through to self-service options available through the HMRC website.
The move follows a similar announcement last year, when HMRC announced the closure of the VAT registration helpline, giving agents and taxpayers just five days’ warning that the service will end.
HMRC closing their self assessment helpline was trialled last year for three months from 12 June.
Now a permanent fixture, it is one of several changes being made, including:
• between October and March, the self assessment helpline will be open to deal with priority queries, with those that can be “quickly and easily resolved online” again being directed to the online services
• the VAT helpline will be open for five days every month ahead of the deadline for filing VAT returns – outside of this time, customers will again be directed to use HMRC’s online services
• the PAYE helpline will no longer take calls from customers relating to refunds but will instead be directed to the online services
However, there are no further changes to the Agent Dedicated Line at present.
