As part of the move to migrate all activity to online services, HMRC has started beta testing a service designed to make it easier for tapayers to make a complaint, stating that employees or pensioners who want to raise a complaint about tax taken from a wage or pension can use a trial online form to contact HMRC.

Individuals need to sign-in to, or set up a government gateway account, or use their self assessment gateway login details, to use the online service, which is currently a beta, or test, version. Anyone wanting to set up a new account will require their national insurance number.

The trial online service is only for new complaints about income tax.

Anyone who wants to complain about services they have received in other areas will still need to contact HMRC by phone or post. Anyone who wants to discuss a complaint they have already made is told to use the telephone number or address on the letter HMRC sent acknowledging the complaint, quoting the complaint reference number.

HMRC’s handling of queries made by phone and post came under sustained criticism throughout 2016, with just 54% of call attempts being answered in the first quarter of the financial year.

Details of the beta test site for the online service are here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complain-to-hm-revenue-and-customs#history