Outstanding Post - HMRC Extends its Trial

Newsletter issue – September 2023

Only last month we reported that HMRC had expanded its Agent Account Manager (AAM) team and remit. From 10 July 2023, providing an agent is registered, the expanded remit allows them to look at POSTAL queries outstanding for 12 months or more.This was set to last for a trial period only.

At a recent Representative Body Steering Group meeting with professional bodies, HMRC confirmed this trial will be extended indefinitely.Therefore, given this positive news from HMRC, it is worth repeating these important points before using the AAM service that is attempting to clear POST backlogs:

• The agent must be registered
• The AAM service cannot be used if a query is already under investigation at HMRC
• The AAMservice cannot be used for formal complaints and compliance checks unless the query is over 12 months old
• The query must be raised using the Agent Issue Resolution Service form and, importantly
• Within the form is a section 'About your client ' that contains a 'reason' field. This must be completed with the narrative 'agents 12 month+ post trial'

Hopefully, post that has been outstanding for over 12 months will be cleared, allowing the AAM team to work through queries outstanding 11 months, then 10, then 9 etc.