A pile of unopened letters lies scattered on a white background

HMRC announces taskforce to address old post

10 July, 2023

HMRC performance has been a concern for some time, with members reporting a range of issues, particularly around delays processing letters. We’ve been working with HMRC to discuss how we can collectively help to reduce the number of outstanding post cases with a specific focus on old post.

HMRC have apologised for the impact this is having on customers, including tax agents and their clients. They’re continuing work to respond more quickly to post but know there is more work they need to do on the small proportion of older post still waiting for a response. 

HMRC have set up a dedicated taskforce which will start work today (Monday 10 July) to process post over 12 months old. They aim to significantly reduce the number of outstanding cases over the next few months. 

From today, you can use the Agents' Issue Resolution Service online form to identify and progress post over 12 months old.  

How the Agents’ Issue Resolution Service process will work 

The core purpose of the Agent Account Manager team (AAM), which is to help agents resolve issues, will remain but it will now also be responsible for resolving post over 12 months old where HMRC has not responded. 

Agents should use the form to identify items of post over 12 months old which they believe have not been responded to. HMRC asks that you include in the ‘Reason’ box the heading 'Agents 12 month + Post Trial', before entering any additional text into the box, so the team can identify the trial cases.  HMRC will need the following information:     

  • clients name 
  • date of post item 
  • customer reference 
  • agent code 
  • agent name 
  • agent’s phone number 
  • which tax regime the post relates to 

Agents using the online form will receive an automatic response acknowledging receipt. HMRC will  then contact you within five working days to confirm that the reported post has been identified and respond more fully in 15 working days. 

As this is a trial, HMRC won’t publish these changes on GOV.UK at this time.   

HMRC have asked us to remind you not to use the AAM service  to highlight issues that are being handled by other parts of HMRC including:  

  • cases where we’ve already replied to an agent – for example - a request for addition information   
  • formal complaints - unless there is associated post over 12 months old without a response 
  • compliance checks - unless there is associated post over 12 months old without a response 
  • appeals against HMRC decisions 
  • post under 12 months old 

Next steps 

HMRC will monitor the adapted service and review how it’s working on Friday 4 August. If the mailbox has been successful, they’ll extend the trial for a further period and let us know how long this is likely to be for.  

If members have any further feedback, please let email [email protected] with the heading 'old post'. Please note that due to the volume of reports, we may not be able to respond individually to all comments, but all feedback will be read.