HMRC has launched a 12-week consultation, Raising standards in tax advice: Protecting customers claiming tax repayments, to consider ways to better protect taxpayers from the 200 repayment agents who make routine tax claims on people’s behalf but can take up to half, or even more, of the payment.

Many taxpayers have complained that the scale of the charges are unclear or even hidden, sometimes up to 50% of the reclaimed tax, while questions have been raised about how some agents secure agreements from customers. HMRC estimates that around 500,000 people use tax repayment agents in a single year.