‘HMRC’s customer service performance has been declining for many years and is not acceptable to the taxpayers or agents it serves,’ the report by the Public Accounts Committee said.

‘We are unconvinced that HMRC’s plans to address this through moving more enquiries to digital channels will sustainably reduce demand or deal with the poor level of service quickly enough.

‘Taxpayers and their agents are still not receiving an acceptable level of customer service.’

In the last five years, HMRC has cut its customer service staff numbers by 6,000 from 25,500 to 19,500.