HMRC continues roll out of local advice lines for accountants

Date: 16th July 2008

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced that several new advice lines are set to come into operation for accountants helping clients with self assessment tax returns and PAYE issues.

The organisation explained that its Taxes Contact Centres deal with self assessment tax returns and PAYE issues and added that new dedicated lines for accountants were currently being rolled out across the UK.

While dedicated lines for accountants operating in Cardiff, Bootle and Manchester have all started operations since the beginning on July, more are set to follow in the coming week.

Accountants from Belfast will be able to contact their dedicated advice line tomorrow (July 17th) and Portsmouth and Sunderland's lines will be operational before the end of the month.

By October, phone lines in Liverpool, Peterlee, Newcastle and Livingston will also be up and running.

A statement from HMRC warned that not all accountants would be able to use the new service.

It explained: "Please remember that these services are for authorised agents only. If we cannot verify that you are formally authorised to speak to us on your client's behalf, we will not be able to proceed with the call.

"For this reason, it's important that you don't give these numbers to your clients."