HMRC have published the results of their “mixed method research” which was undertaken “to understand Agents use of HMRC’s digital services and also the impact of pain points and improvements”.
The identified “pain points” for agents included:
- having two separate accounts with different login details (36%);
- limited visibility of VAT returns (35%);
- not being able to see the same information as clients through HMRC’s digital services (33%); and
- not having a single client dashboard was the least significant pain point for agents (25%).
According to the report, “certain agents tended to report a greater negative impact”. Those identified as falling into this group include all of the following (which appears to the writer to cover a very large proportion of agents):
- agents who are members of professional organisations;
- agents from accountancy firms;
- agents with a turnover of £60k and above;
- agents who insist clients use specialist accounting or bookkeeper software;
- agents who said they had found it hard acting on behalf of clients in the last 12 months; and
- agents who think HMRC’s services have got worse in the last 12 months.
Related content from Claritax Books
In Taxpayer Safeguards – Rights and Protections for Individuals, written by the late Robin Williamson and now updated by Keith Gordon, the authors explore the whole spectrum of protections available to individual taxpayers.
