We spend a lot of time at work helping clients in their dealings with the authorities, notably Companies House and HMRC, but including others such as the Charity Commission. And it’s becoming harder and harder to deliver that help, courtesy of delays, particularly at HMRC.

As with the banks, local offices are long gone, all in the name of efficiency of course. For a while now, everything has had to be done online and that bandwagon isn’t about to slow up any time now. It’s supposed to make it easier to process and for routine submissions, it definitely does that. But the moment you have to wait for any form of response, the whole system comes to an immediate halt. So why the delays and what can be done to combat them?

The obvious answer to the cause is the reduction in staffing over the last decade or more. But it probably goes deeper than that, down to a dark desire not to provide any sort of customer service. Much is made of the failings in this area, but there is no accountability at HMRC, so what incentive can there be for their staff to fast track any response? None at all, which is also pretty much the answer to what can be done about it.

HMRC and the other regulators have developed a system whereby you have to wait a given length of time before you can even chase your query. You’d think that might be a couple of weeks maybe, but no, it’s a massive 16 weeks – 4 months – before you are even entitled to call them and ask politely how they are getting on. It’s outrageous really but it isn’t about to change any time soon.

Many of these queries can relate to tax offsets or refunds. Most of the time the taxpayer is waiting for money to be returned by HMRC that it is holding onto but which does not belong to it. You can imagine HMRC’s reaction if the boot was on the other foot.

There’s not a lot to do other than learn the art of patience or maybe not putting yourself in a position to need to talk to them in the first place.