Tax advisers have criticised HM Revenue & Customs' for keeping taxpayers waiting up to three months to receive repayments on overpaid taxes. In a poll conducted by the ICAEW, six out of 10 tax advisers said they had spent more time and money in dealing with HMRC's service problems, partly attributed to the closure of local offices and staff cuts. The ICAEW commented that it is 'concerned' HMRC's efficiency scheme has done nothing to improve customer service and more to the point, efficiency has 'deteriorated' in some areas, reports the Financial Times . But in its defence, HMRC said that its quality monitoring showed that 'performance has not been adversely affected, and that in some areas, performance had improved substantially'. John Whiting of PricewaterhouseCoopers said that the Revenue's treatment of taxpayers is not reasonable when looking at its failure to address ongoing service problems. He said: 'We are getting penalties for late payments but where is the equivalent for the taxpayer?'