Monday 27 May 2013 @ 13:45
Public and Commercial Services Union
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Closure of tax offices will cost more than it will save

Plans by the government to shut the network of face to face tax centres will also disproportionately affect minorities and vulnerable groups, including pensioners, people on low incomes, migrant workers and disabled people.

The union's official response to HM Revenue and Customs' consultation - which it criticises as "deeply flawed" - says that not a single employee that representatives have spoken to believes the proposal to replace the offices with "mobile teams" will work.

The union's submission questions the department's claim that it costs an average of £152 per taxpayer visit to the centres, pointing out that this would amount to £380 million, or more than 10% of all HMRC's costs.

The department has included the entire cost of buildings where centres are located, even though many occupy no more than a single room in larger offices, says the union which represents more than 1,000 of the 1,300 enquiry centre staff across the UK.

The submission adds: "We believe these proposals will cost more than they will save. As well as extra costs needed for mobile teams, money will be lost to the economy due to the loss of local tax compliance.

"It is also likely to prove costly on a personal level to those who are no longer able to get access to local advice, and could see more taxpayers with the wrong tax code or families getting into financial difficulties because they are not getting access to information about their tax credits.

"At a time when the economy is already struggling, it is more important than ever to ensure that everyone is paying the right amount of tax. The closure of enquiry centres will mean that more people will pay the wrong amount or no tax at all."

The union has also raised serious concerns about pilot closures of 13 offices in the north east of England, saying they cannot reliably test the impact on migrant workers - who make up 25% of users of the centres across the UK and often have complex tax queries because they are likely to be employed in multiple low income jobs - and black and ethnic minority staff, because levels of both are relatively low in the region.

On the impact on older people, the union's submission states: "This is one of the customer bases that our members have the most concerns about. Usually when they attend an office it is because things have gone wrong such as their tax code being incorrect, leaving them with not enough money to provide themselves with essentials such as food and heating."

Other problems and issues raised include:
  • The reduction in visits to the centres cited as justification for closure is a direct result of imposed reductions in opening hours, and proves nothing about the ongoing need for face to face advice
  • The same groups of people who rely on face to face advice are more likely to struggle with or avoid using internet and telephone services, including older people and those who speak English as a second language
  • The disproportionate impact on, and difficulty of redeploying, the lowest paid staff who make up 85% of enquiry centre employees, and more than half the workforce who were moved to that line of work because of reasonable adjustments covered by disability legislation
  • The presence of local tax advice centres provides a crucial link between people and the taxes they pay, and helps to encourage compliance with paying tax. Closing them would undermine the government's claim to be clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion

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