From 2 October, HMRC will completely remove the 10-minute service level on the agent dedicated line (ADL) and instead will inform callers of the expected waiting time.

HMRC said this means that callers ‘may wait slightly longer than normal to speak to an adviser on the ADL, especially at peak times’.

At the moment the service handles nearly 1.2 million calls a year, a third of which could be resolved using online services.

An HMRC spokesperson told Accountancy Daily: ‘We must use our resources effectively to meet the needs of all our customers.

‘We strongly encourage agents to use our digital services wherever possible, to allow our expert advisers to help agents who require one-to-one support. Last year, more than a third of calls answered on the Agent Dedicated Line were progress chasing queries, the vast majority of which can be answered online.’

L