UK accounting firms are being warned to expect serious delays in their dealings with the Inland Revenue later this month when the clashing of two key deadlines is expected to result in around 10 million callers to tax office help lines.
On September 30, the 9 million individuals who file self assessment forms must hand in their returns to the Revenue if they want the tax man to calculate their 2003/2004 tax liability. Around half of these are expected to do so.
However, on the same day, the government has decided to set the deadline for the renewal of the Child Tax Credit and Working Families Tax credit introduced last year. Those who fail to submit their renewal forms before this date will lose their entitlement. It is estimated that there are some 6 million tax credit claimants.
In anticipation of the impending deluge of worried callers, the IR has circulated a memo to the accounting industry that reads: "The Inland Revenue is expecting to receive a peak of telephone calls and personal callers...If you are telephoning the Department on a taxes matter during this period, you may experience delays.
"We will be switching resources [manpower] to cope with the expected increased demand which could continue well into October," it adds.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the Revenue has also set up “priority phone lines” for accountants that are unavailable to the general public.
Despite these contingency measures, some in the profession warn that the extra staff taken on by the Revenue will be ill-trained to cope with complex cases and a high volume of distressed callers.
"There is real potential for chaos here,” warned Anita Monteith, head of the Institute of Chartered Accountants tax faculty, the Telegraph reported.
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