HMRC update Your Charter

18 January 2016

Your Charter underpins everything HMRC are doing as they transform their services and ways of working. This includes supporting customers to get their tax right first time, through to developing new digital ways of working, making their services more accessible for customers and bringing in vital government revenue.

The updated Your Charter links more clearly to what customers can expect from HMRC and what they expect from customers. It has been developed with input from customers and stakeholders. The report details the following:

Your rights - what you can expect from HMRC	Your obligations - what HMRC expect from you
Respect you and treat you as honest	Be honest and respect our staff
Provide a helpful, efficient and effective service	Work with us to get things right
Be professional and act with integrity	Find out what you need to do and keep us informed
Protect your information and respect your privacy	Keep accurate records and protect your information
Accept that someone else can represent you	Know what your representative does on your behalf
Deal with complaints quickly and fairly	Respond in good time
Tackle those who bend or break the rules	Take reasonable care to avoid mistakes

Also published is the Charter Advisory Committee’s final Your Charter Annual Report which reviews HMRC’s performance against the standards of behaviour and values in Your Charter and includes progress and priorities for further improvement.

The latest report (covering April 2014 to March 2015) focuses on:

• introducing 22 new digital products and services, including PAYE for employees, Digital Self Assessment, Your Tax Account and Agent Online Self Serve
• providing new ways for people to get in touch – e.g. webchats, secure messaging and social media such as @HMRCcustomers Twitter account
• improving the support HMRC give to people who need extra help
• creating a new Counter-Avoidance Directorate with a clear focus on reducing the tax gap and avoidance activity
• streamlining processes with the ‘Once and Done’ initiative – reducing the need for customers to contact HMRC more than once to resolve a query.