HMRC To Shift Towards Digital Correspondence

As part of their modernisation and cost cutting exercise, HMRC have announced that they will start to send emails and texts to taxpayers in a bid to reduce postage costs.

HMRC have said that they are ‘committed to modernising HMRC to become a digital first organisation’, which means they will move their communication to email and text, saving an estimated £50M by 2028/29.

This digital communication will only be sent to HMRC app users, who will receive alerts when new messages or information has been uploaded by HMRC.

Despite the announcement, there is no timetable for the rolling out of this new style of service.

There are concerns that text and email could increase fraudulent activity, as HMRC has always been clear that they do not contact individuals in this way.  The complex language and lack of clarity when writing to taxpayers has also been raised. HMRC will work with the Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB), amongst others to simplify the language used.

HMRC App

The introduction of the HMRC app has been fairly successful with 1.7m people used the app each month and it is still being heavily promoted including on TV ads to push more people to download it.

The HMRC app is available for Android and Apple users and can be downloaded here.

Further updates will be provided when more information is available.

Source: https://www.accountancydaily.co/hmrc-shifts-email-and-text-cut-postage

Disclaimer - All information in this post was correct at time of writing.