HMRC hails 2015 performance

 HMRC hails 2015 performance

HMRC has been criticised for hailing its “most successful year” in a report that details positive results over the past 12 months. The department said it had “achieved successive record-breaking revenues, last year alone bringing in more than £517bn”, adding that “all this was achieved at the same time as improving customer service”. The claims were made despite figures released by HMRC in June that showed it failed to answer one in four calls from the public as staff struggled to cope with demand. HMRC’s chief Lin Homer was made a dame in the New Year’s Honours. John Pugh, a Lib Dem member of the Public Accounts Committee, criticised the timing of the report. He said: “Lin Homer would certainly not have been nominated by the hordes of unanswered taxpayer callers to the diminishing number of accessible tax offices. Perhaps - if they could get through - some of the thousands of identified and unprosecuted tax evaders put in a good word.”

Source: The Daily Telegraph (01/01/2016)