HMRC have recently launched a dashboard to inform taxpayers about the time it is taking to deal with enquiries and settle tax repayments, with delays of up to eleven months in some instances.
The dashboard, which will be updated weekly, gives accurate and clear information of HMRC’s service performance, and whether they are achieving response time targets, and if not, how long the delay is expected to be.
Refunds from self-assessment tax returns are held in a backlog, with HMRC currently handling submissions from 5 May. This means that claims are taking 56 days to handle, compared with the usual 15 working day turnaround.
Marriage allowance claims are also affected, taking nearly three times the usual turnaround time.
R40 income taxed at source, whereby agents are trying to claim a refund of income tax deducted from savings and investments, is one of the worst affected, suffering delays of nearly a year, with HMRC currently handling requests dating back to August 2021.
Delays are expected to be resolved by October 2022 at the earliest, according to HMRC, however, this is an estimate and subject to change.
Access the HMRC dashboard to check current service levels for post and online requests.
Get in touch
If you are currently awaiting a tax refund from HMRC which you would like to discuss further, please contact your usual PM+M representative or get in touch by emailing enquiries@pmm.co.uk.