A record 10,000 businesses and tax agents responded to the annual Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB) survey with 42% saying their experiences on the HMRC website were worse than in 2023.

The majority (8,487) of the respondents were from businesses and sole traders, with the remainder accountants and tax agents.

In terms of HMRC online services, almost 60% said the webchat service was ‘poor’ with just 105 respondents describing the service as ‘excellent’.

Over 50% said the services over the phone were poor, with only 243 respondents said the service they received over the phone was excellent. Less than a third considered the service between average and good.