Corporate report

Tell ABAB report 2023 to 2024

Published 25 September 2024

1. Executive Summary

As Chair of the Administrative Burdens Advisory Board (ABAB), my passion and commitment is focused on making a noticeable difference for small business by supporting HMRC in:

• helping to reduce administrative burdens
• ensuring that the tax system is easier, quicker and simpler

ABAB represents the small business community. I and the 12 independent members of ABAB come from a diverse range of businesses and professions. Our focus is to make sure that HMRC understands the needs of small businesses.

Listening to and understanding the small business experience of engaging with the tax system is vital. We use the ABAB Annual Report and ABAB mailbox to engage with others. The amount of detail received from small business is critical to our effective engagement with HMRC.

One of the key ways we gain insight is through our annual Tell ABAB online survey, which last year received a then record 7,500 responses. This year’s survey ran from 17 April 2024 to 3 May 2024 and I’m delighted to confirm a new record number of responses – 10,052 – representing a 34% increase over last year.

Of the responses, 84% came from businesses, and 16% from agents.

A key finding from our survey reveals that on Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and Self-Assessment (MTD for ITSA) – alongside a general lack of awareness around this initiative - respondents believed that it would be something which requires increased cost and time to manage, with many fewer indicating that it would save money and time. In terms of the benefits business expected from MTD for ITSA, 65% of respondents who answered this question picked the ‘no benefits’ option.

Survey evidence on the administration associated with importing and exporting suggests that a smaller proportion of businesses than last year are saying that this continues to be a burden. Many now report that it is now considered business as usual or that the burden is about the same.

We saw an increase this year in the proportion of respondents saying that HMRC guidance was average or unhelpful, but this has to be balanced against a 7.4 percentage point decrease in respondents voting it as ‘very unhelpful’. Guidance accessibility appears to have improved substantially since the 2023 survey, with an increase from 13% to 33% of respondents rating the guidance as ‘accessible’.

We invited views on HMRC Communications, Engagement, Customer Experience, and Written Correspondence. Most responses continue to rate the usefulness of telephony, webchat and HMRC app services as ‘poor’.

The majority of responses rated the helpline response time as poor, and moreover, this was a substantially increased proportion compared to last year’s survey (from 43% to 63%). When viewed alongside a drop of similar scale in responses which described the helpline response time as ‘Neither good nor bad’, we understand that this is a growing key issue.

With the data from the 2023 survey, we can compare how customer experience has changed. As with last year, most respondents commented that their experience was the same as 12 months ago, though this proportion is smaller than the 2024 survey. In terms of those whose experience had changed, the proportion of respondents whose experience got worse increased from 34% to 42%.

On Written Correspondence, our survey asked how easy it was to read any written correspondence received from HMRC during the year. Most respondents answered ‘average’ to this question. Importantly – compared to 2023 – there is a decrease in the proportion of customers answering ‘easy’ and ‘very easy’ to read, indicating that customers are having more difficulty reading and understanding HMRC communications than last year despite work being done within HMRC to improve this.

As in previous years, the legislative burden associated with tax compliance remains a problem. Results show an even-split between those who thought it had got worse, and those who said it had stayed the same. Only 1.7% commented that it had improved. This remains particularly concerning as burdens cumulatively add to burdens year on year.

Thank you to everyone who took part in our survey. We appreciate you taking the time to share your views and experiences. The year-on-year record number of responses we have seen indicates a strength of feeling from small businesses to let us know about the critical issues as they see them.

Whilst we will always look for new ways to attract views from the widest range of small businesses, the volume of responses this year makes our survey more representative than ever before.

If you have any ideas on how to further improve our survey, please email your suggestions to the ABAB mailbox.

We will continue to work together with HMRC to highlight the messages from this survey, so that collectively we can develop a tax system that is easier, quicker and simpler.

Dame Teresa Graham, DBE

2. Introduction

This report examines survey responses in detail. Each table presents collated survey responses and presents them both as a proportion of all respondents who were asked the question, as well as all respondents who actually answered the question. Where possible, this report also compares responses to equivalent questions in the 2023 Tell ABAB survey. In those situations, the count of responses and the percentage of respondents who answered the question are both presented. Additionally, the final column compares the two proportions and how they differ in terms of percentage points (PPT). For instance, if an option in the 2024 survey carries 50% of the responses and carried 45% of the responses in the 2023 survey, this would be a percentage point difference of 5%. A positive percentage point difference indicates a greater proportion of customers in 2024 selected that option compared to 2023. A negative difference indicates that the proportion was higher in 2023.

There were 14,742 responses to the 2024 Tell ABAB survey received between 17 April to 3 May 2024 of which 10,052 answered that they were either a business sole trader or an agent and answered at least one substantive question. Respondents who did not do so are not included in the below analysis. Tables that present responses ‘As % of total’ are as a percentage of these 10,052 business and agent respondents as appropriate.

3. Response Period

3.1. How was the survey received?

Method	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Email from HMRC	5,266	52.4%	93.6%
Email from professional body	114	1.1%	2.0%
Email from colleague	63	0.6%	1.1%
Link from a bulletin	55	0.5%	1.0%
Link on GOV.UK page	22	0.2%	0.4%
Other	104	1.0%	1.8%
Total answered	5,624	55.9%	100% (note)

Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.

3.2. How did you receive this survey?

Communication method	2024	2023
Email from HMRC	5,266	4,867
Email from professional Body	114	109
Email from colleague	63	45
Link from a bulletin	55	102
Link on GOV.UK page	22	24
Other	104	Not applicable
Total answered	5,624	5,147

3.2.1. How did you receive this survey? – percentage of respondents

Communication method	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Email from HMRC	93.6%	94.6%	-0.9%
Email from professional Body	2.0%	2.1%	-0.1%
Email from colleague	1.1%	0.9%	0.2%
Link from a bulletin	1.0%	2.0%	-1.0%
Link on GOV.UK page	0.4%	0.5%	-0.1%
Other	1.8%	Not applicable	Not applicable

4. About You

4.1. Are you a business sole trader or an agent?

84% of responses came from businesses, with just under 16% from agents. This represents a 2.8% percentage point shift towards agents completing the survey compared to last year.

Type	2024	2023
Business	8,487	6,496
Agent	1,565	947
Total answered	10,052	7,443

4.1.1. Are you a business sole trader or an agent? – percentage of respondents

Type	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Business	84.4%	87.3%	-2.8%
Agent	15.6%	12.7%	2.8%

4.2. Age range

Age bands of respondents are very similar to last year, with only 1% or less difference to last year. As with previous years, there are very few responses from under 24 years old.

Range	2024	2023
Up to 24	22	17
25 to 34	185	197
35 to 44	746	759
45 to 54	1,519	1,510
55 to 64	2,255	2,131
65 and over	1,293	1,186
Total answered	6,020	5,800

4.2.1. Age range – percentage of respondents

Range	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Up to 24	0.4%	0.3%	0.1%
25 - 34	3.1%	3.4%	-0.3%
35 - 44	12.4%	13.1%	-0.7%
45 - 54	25.2%	26.0%	-0.8%
55 - 64	37.5%	36.7%	0.7%
65 and over	21.5%	20.4%	1.0%

4.3. Number of employees

70% of the answered responses came from respondents (businesses and agents) with 5 employees or fewer, a 4.7 percentage point drop compared to last year’s survey. This was contrasted with a 3 percentage point rise in businesses with 21 or more employees.

Employee count (banded)	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
1 to 5	4,414	43.9%	69.8%
6 to 10	693	6.9%	11.0%
11 to 20	705	7.0%	11.1%
21 and over	511	5.1%	8.1%
Total answered	6,323	62.9%	Not applicable

4.4. Number of employees

Employee count (banded)	2024	2023
1 to 5	4,414	4,979
6 to 10	693	674
11 to 20	511	491
21 and over	705	542
Total answered	6,323	6,686

4.4.1. Number of employees – percentage of respondents

Employee count (banded)	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
1 to 5	69.8%	74.5%	-4.7%
6 to 10	11.0%	10.1%	0.9%
11 to 20	8.1%	7.3%	0.7%
21 and over	11.1%	8.1%	3.0%

4.5. Turnover

This year’s survey broke the lowest turnover band down further, from 0 to £85,000 into bands between 0, £30,000, £50,000, and £85,000. For comparison to 2023, these 3 bands have been collated into the original band.

4.5.1. Annual turnover

Annual turnover (banded)	2024	2023
0 to £85,000	2,306	2,836
£85,001 to £150,00	1,209	1,257
£150,001 to £250,000	815	872
£250,001 to £500,000	827	850
£500,001 to £999,999	604	544
£1 million to £2 million	564	462
£2 million and over	676	555
Total answered	7,001	7,376

4.5.2. Annual turnover – percentage of respondents

Annual turnover (banded)	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
0 to £85,000	32.9%	38.4%	-5.5%
£85,001 to £150,00	17.3%	17.0%	0.2%
£150,001 to £250,000	11.6%	11.8%	-0.2%
£250,001 to £500,000	11.8%	11.5%	0.3%
£500,001 to £999,999	8.6%	7.4%	1.3%
£1 million to £2 million	8.1%	6.3%	1.8%
£2 million and over	9.7%	7.5%	2.1%

4.5.3. Analysis of £85k band for the current year

As with last year, the highest proportion of businesses declared a turnover lower than £85,000, although this proportion has decreased by 5.5 PPTs, reflected in a rise in the share of higher turnovers of £500k and above.

Annual turnover (banded)	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
0 to £30,000	873	12.4%	37.9%
£30,001 to £50,000	642	9.2%	27.8%
£51,001 to £85,000	791	11.3%	34.3%

4.6. Number of clients (Agent respondents only)

Of those who declared they were an agent, the highest proportion (22%) declared that they had between 201 and 500 clients. This was the same in the 2023 survey, though this year’s survey saw a proportional increase in responses from agents with 501 or more clients.

Agents clients	2024	2023
0 to 25	249	185
26 to 50	162	106
51 to 100	230	163
101 to 200	235	159
201 to 500	311	189
501 or over	259	131
Total answered	1,446	933

4.6.1. Number of clients (Agent respondents only) – percentage of respondents

Agents clients	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
0 to 25	17.2%	19.8%	-2.6%
26 to 50	11.2%	11.4%	-0.2%
51 to 100	15.9%	17.5%	-1.6%
101 to 200	16.3%	17.0%	-0.8%
201 to 500	21.5%	20.3%	1.3%
501 or over	17.9%	14.0%	3.9%

4.7. How many of your total number of clients are VAT registered? (Agents Only)

Along with a reduction in the proportion of agents with 0 to 25 clients, there was a larger reduction in agents with 0 to 25 VAT registered clients. The trend appears to show that higher numbers of clients were VAT registered than in the survey last year.

VAT registered clients	2024	2023
0 to 25	635	468
26 to 50	193	148
51 to 100	203	121
101 to 200	151	81
201 to 500	116	52
501 or over	61	33
Total answered	1,359	903

4.7.1. Agents VAT registered clients – percentage of respondents

VAT registered clients	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
0 to 25	46.7%	51.8%	-5.1%
26 to 50	14.2%	16.4%	-2.2%
51 to 100	14.9%	13.4%	1.5%
101 to 200	11.1%	9.0%	2.1%
201 to 500	8.5%	5.8%	2.8%
501 or over	4.5%	3.7%	0.8%

4.8. Where the business operates

58% of businesses did not answer this question. 56% of businesses (97% of those that answered) operate solely within the UK, with only 1.7% operating in Europe and 1.5% in other countries. Whilst last year saw a substantial drop in these latter categories compared to 2022, there is very little change in proportion of responses in 2024.

Region	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
UK	5,627	56.0%	96.8%
Europe	100	1.0%	1.7%
Other countries	89	0.9%	1.5%
Total answered	4,236	42.1%	100%

5. Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA)

5.1. Awareness of MTD for ITSA

Business respondents were informed by this question that ‘HMRC will require landlords and sole traders with a turnover over £50,000 to keep records digitally and provide quarterly updates of income and expenditure using MTD compatible software from April 2026’. They were then asked how aware they were of the next phase of MTD Income Tax Self-Assessment (ITSA).

5.1.1. Is your business VAT registered? (businesses only)

Of the 8,487 respondents who were businesses, 6,853 (81%) were VAT registered. This is 7 PPTs higher than last year, a substantial rise in VAT registered businesses, reflecting the smaller proportion of businesses who responded that their annual turnover is less than the £85,000 threshold.

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	6,853	80.7%	82.0%
No	1,502	17.7%	18.0%
Total answered	8,355	98.4%	100%

5.1.2. Are you aware of the next phase of MTD for ITSA? (businesses only)

23% of businesses who answered this question are not aware of the next phase, with a further 21% not aware of MTD for ITSA at all. This means that just over half of businesses who answered this question are aware to some degree of the next MTD for ITSA phase.

Over 800 businesses who did not know about MTD for ITSA at all are VAT registered; this population will likely need to be made aware of upcoming MTD for ITSA regulations.

Awareness	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Very aware	645	7.6%	12.2%
Aware	1,112	13.1%	21.1%
Slightly aware	1,212	14.3%	23.0%
Not aware	1,208	14.2%	22.9%
I do not know about MTD for ITSA	1,104	13.0%	20.9%
Total answered	5,281	62.2%	100%

5.1.3. How did you find out about MTD for ITSA? (businesses only)

The most popular answer to this question was ‘Other’. 26% of those who gave an answer to this question and 51% of business respondents did not answer this question. It may be however that many respondents were informed by their software providers as many of the respondents will already have software for accounting and VAT.

Communication method	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
HMRC letter	878	10.3%	21.3%
GOV.UK website	748	8.8%	18.1%
Agent	711	8.4%	17.2%
Trade press or newspapers	474	5.6%	11.5%
Trade association	115	1.4%	2.8%
Family and friends	114	1.3%	2.8%
Other	1,090	12.8%	26.4%
Total answered	4,130	48.7%	100%

5.2. Effect on cost and time

Respondents were asked, with what they know at present, what impact MTD for ITSA would have on the cost and time related to both submitting quarterly updates, and keeping digital records.

For both areas, the highest proportion (around one-third) of respondents believed that MTD for ITSA would require significantly increased cost and time to manage, with substantially fewer (2%) indicating a reduced impact. In each case, the impact is more significantly felt within the smaller businesses in the turnover ranges £0 to £250,000.

Note: MTD applies to businesses whose turnover is greater than £50k from 2026 and greater than £30k from 2027.

5.2.1. Submitting quarterly updates

Perceived impact	MTD effect on cost (%)	MTD effect on time (%)
Increase significantly	34.1%	32.5%
Increase slightly	31.6%	32.5%
No significant effects	29.1%	27.7%
Reduce slightly	3.6%	5.3%
Reduce significantly	1.8%	2.0%

5.2.2. Keeping digital records

Perceived impact	MTD effect on cost (%)	MTD effect on time (%)
Increase significantly	32.2%	33.4%
Increase slightly	30.9%	30.9%
No significant effects	30.6%	28.8%
Reduce slightly	4.1%	4.9%
Reduce significantly	2.2%	2.1%

5.3. Benefits of MTD for ITSA

4.3.1. With what you know at present, what benefits will moving to MTD for ITSA bring to your business/clients?

In last year’s survey, respondents were offered a choice of 5 benefits, and this question was restricted to just business respondents. This year keeps the 5 benefits but also gives the option of ‘no benefits’ and extends the question to all respondents. 65% of respondents who answered this question picked the ‘no benefits’ option. Of the 5 remaining benefits, the highest proportion of respondents chose ‘up to date picture of the business finances’ (11%).

Note that businesses could only select one of the benefits, so this question does not cover those businesses who noticed more than one benefit to MTD.

Benefits	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
No benefits	3,654	36.4%	64.6%
Up to date picture of the business finances	612	6.1%	10.8%
VAT returns submitted more quickly	495	4.9%	8.8%
More accurate records	449	4.5%	7.9%
Digital confidence in record keeping	219	2.2%	3.9%
Other	227	2.3%	4.0%
Total answered	5,656	56.3%	100%

5.4. Late payment penalties and impact (businesses only)

5.4.1. Has your business received penalty points or penalties relating to the late submission or late payment of VAT returns?

9% of the businesses who were asked this questions said that they had received penalties for late submission/payment of VAT returns. When asked to comment on what impact this would have on how they submit VAT returns in future, there were a variety of responses.

A common comment is that there was a technical or clerical issue that stopped the business from filing on time. Some businesses suggested that the third parties and accountants they employed were responsible for the error that caused them to file late, or that the error was outside of their control. Some comments mention that the tax burden is very high for small businesses.

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	781	9.2%	18.5%
No	3,450	40.7%	81.5%
Total answered	4,231	49.9%	100%

6. Importing and exporting

6.1. Do you import or export?

This year has seen largely similar proportions of respondents who import/export to last year, with 16% of respondents to this question saying that they import or export (this represents 11% of all survey respondents).

Response	2024	2023
Yes	1,074	1,239
No	5,616	6,187
Total answered	6,690	7,426

6.1.1. Do you import or export? – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	16.1%	16.7%	-0.6%
No	83.9%	83.3%	0.6%

6.2. Admin burden since leaving EU

Compared to last year’s survey, a slightly smaller proportion of respondents are saying that the admin associated with imports/exports continues to be a burden on the business, with a higher proportion saying that it is considered business as usual, or is about the same, however it clearly remains an issue for the majority of businesses in the survey who import or export.

In the last year since the UK has left the EU would you say the administration associated with importing or exporting from the UK has:	2024	2023
Increased considerably and continues to be a burden on your business	609	773
Increased moderately but is now considered business as usual	227	258
Not changed and is about the same	158	165
Reduced and is not a burden on your business	18	15
Total answered	1,012	1,211

6.2.1. Admin burden since leaving EU – percentage of respondents

In the last year since the UK left the EU, has the administration associated with importing or exporting from the UK:	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Increased considerably and continues to be a burden on your business	60.2%	63.8%	-3.7%
Increased moderately but is now considered business as usual	22.4%	21.3%	1.1%
Not changed and is about the same	15.6%	13.6%	2.0%
Reduced and is not a burden on your business	1.8%	1.2%	0.5%

6.3. HMRC Interventions

HMRC has changed custom processes by the introduction of:

• the Single Trade Window (STW)
• closure of CHIEF and the use of Customs Declaration Service (CDS)
• Safety and Security Declarations (S&S) for freight
• Merchandise in Baggage (MiB) imports from the EU

6.3.1. Interventions affecting your business

Proportions are very similar to last year’s survey, with the largest difference being a 1.4 percentage point increase in customers who say that the listed HMRC interventions make the process of import/export less efficient.

If these custom processes affected your business, has it made importing/exporting:	2024	2023
No change	369	407
Less efficient	282	296
Efficient	31	35
More efficient	13	17
Total answered	695	755

6.3.2. Interventions affecting your business – percentage of respondents

If these custom processes affected your business, has it made importing/exporting:	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
No change	53.1%	53.9%	-0.8%
Less efficient	40.6%	39.2%	1.4%
Efficient	4.5%	4.6%	-0.2%
More efficient	1.9%	2.3%	-0.4%

6.4. Trader Support Service (TSS)

6.4.1. Does your business trade with Northern Ireland?

Only 9% of respondents answered this question, with 2.7% saying that they traded with Northern Ireland. The majority of these respondents found that the TSS for trade with NI was ‘Neither easy nor difficult’ to use. This is a 2.9 percentage point increase compared to last year’s survey. There was a noticeable 4.7 percentage point reduction in the proportion of respondents who found TSS difficult to use, however this is somewhat mitigated by a 2.5 percentage point increase in ‘Very difficult to use’ responses.

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	269	2.7%	29.1%
No	654	6.5%	70.9%
Total answered	923	9.2%	100%

6.4.2. How do you find TSS?

In terms of who completes TSS-focussed administration, the majority of respondents to this question rely on a third party, as with last year’s survey. However, the proportion of responses is 8.3 PPTs lower than last year, shifting instead to a mixture of outsourced and in-house admin, with a small increase in solely in-house administration.

Rating	2024	2023
Very easy to use	4	5
Easy to use	6	9
Neither easy nor difficult	79	91
Difficult to use	39	58
Very difficult to use	45	50
Total answered	173	213

6.4.3. How do you find TSS? – percentage of respondents

Rating	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Very easy to use	2.3%	2.3%	0.0%
Easy to use	3.5%	4.2%	-0.8%
Neither easy nor difficult	45.7%	42.7%	2.9%
Difficult to use	22.5%	27.2%	-4.7%
Very difficult to use	26.0%	23.5%	2.5%

6.4.4. If ‘Yes’ via TSS, does your business:

If ‘Yes’ via TSS, does your business:	2024	2023
Rely upon a third party to complete all administration whereby you incur a charge for that service	102	146
Complete all the administration yourselves	54	61
Mixture of both	56	52
Total answered	212	259

6.4.5. If ‘Yes’ via TSS, does your business – percentage of respondents

If ‘Yes’ via TSS, does your business:	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Rely upon a third party to complete all administration whereby you incur a charge for that service	48.1%	56.4%	-8.3%
Complete all the administration yourselves	25.5%	23.6%	1.9%
Mixture of both	26.4%	20.1%	6.3%

7. Time To Pay (TTP)

7.1. Are you aware of HMRC TTP arrangements?

40% of respondents were aware of HMRC’s time to pay arrangements, against 60% who were not. Compared to 2023, 3.6% more respondents proportionally were aware of TTP.

Response	2024	2023
Yes	2,436	2,656
No	3,713	4,722
Total answered	6,149	7,378

7.1.1. Are you aware of HMRC TTP arrangements? – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	39.6%	36.0%	3.6%
No	60.4%	64.0%	-3.6%

7.2. Have you had any experience of using HMRC’s TTP arrangements?

While 40% of respondents were aware, only 16% had experience of use. This represents a 3.8% percentage point rise in respondents from last year’s survey who were aware of TTP.

Response	2024	2023
Yes	990	907
No	5,141	6,446
Total answered	6,131	7,353

7.2.1. Have you had any experience of using HMRC’s TTP arrangements? – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	16.1%	12.3%	3.8%
No	83.9%	87.7%	-3.8%

7.3. Which tax did you need it for?

The most common tax among TTP users was SA (30.5% of people who responded). This is a change from last year’s survey where VAT came out on top. VAT saw a substantial 6.9 percentage point decrease from 2023, indicating a large shift away from using TTP for VAT.

Note that only one choice was possible in this question, so it does not capture where customers used TTP for more than one tax.

Tax type	2024	2023
SA	285	284
VAT	273	317
Corporation Tax	151	129
PAYE	138	104
Other	86	42
Total answered	933	876

7.3.1. Which tax did you need it for? – percentage of respondents

Tax type	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
SA	30.5%	32.4%	-1.9%
VAT	29.3%	36.2%	-6.9%
Corporation Tax	16.2%	14.7%	1.5%
PAYE	14.8%	11.9%	2.9%
Other	9.2%	4.8%	4.4%

7.4. TTP During the pandemic

7.4.1. Did you use TTP during the pandemic?

45% of those who answered this question said they used TTP during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is down a substantial 13.5 PPTs from last year’s survey. The total number of businesses who used TTP during the pandemic will not have changed since last year’s survey, so this indicates fewer businesses who used TTP during the pandemic responded to this survey, or just to this question.

Response	2024	2023
Yes	302	510
No	370	362
Total answered	672	872

7.4.2. TTP During the pandemic – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	44.9%	58.5%	-13.5%
No	55.1%	41.5%	13.5%

7.5. Administration burden during pandemic

7.5.1. TTP administration burden during pandemic

In this year’s survey, the proportion of customers who experienced a slightly increased admin burden due to TTP went down (3.7 PPTs), while the proportion who reduced their admin burden slightly with TTP went up (3.2 PPTs). A similar but less substantial shift was seen across the ‘significantly’ reduced/increased categories.

Thinking about the administration burdens on you or your business, did arranging TTP during the pandemic:	2024	2023
Add to these significantly	55	112
Add to these a little	115	230
No Effect	116	198
Reduced these a little	54	76
Reduced these significantly	23	34
Total answered	363	650

7.5.2. TTP administration burden during pandemic – percentage of respondents

Thinking about the administration burdens on you or your business did arranging TTP during the pandemic:	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Add to these significantly	15.2%	17.2%	-2.1%
Add to these a little	31.7%	35.4%	-3.7%
No Effect	32.0%	30.5%	1.5%
Reduced these a little	14.9%	11.7%	3.2%
Reduced these significantly	6.3%	5.2%	1.1%

7.6. TTP Since the pandemic

7.6.1. Have you had course to resort to TTP since the pandemic?

There was a true 50:50 split between respondents who said they had and hadn’t needed to use TTP since the pandemic in the 2024 survey. This reflects 1.6 PPTs smaller proportion of customers who used TTP since the pandemic in last year’s survey. This question was answered by fewer respondents than last year’s survey.

Response	2024	2023
Yes	321	391
No	321	367
Total answered	642	758

7.6.2. Have you had course to resort to TTP since the pandemic? – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	50.0%	51.6%	-1.6%
No	50.0%	48.4%	1.6%

7.6.3. TTP administration burden

As with the question covering the admin burden during the pandemic, the majority of respondents to this question remarked that TTP had no effect on admin burden. This is the same as last year’s survey, but with a slightly higher proportion of answers (2.8 PPTs).

Thinking about the administration burdens on you or your business has arranging TTP after the pandemic:	2024	2023
Add to these significantly	75	106
Add to these a little	123	180
No Effect	145	182
Reduced these a little	29	45
Reduced these significantly	23	24
Total answered	395	537

7.6.4. TTP administration burden – percentage of respondents

Thinking about the administration burdens on you or your business has arranging TTP after the pandemic:	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Add to these significantly	19.0%	19.7%	-0.8%
Add to these a little	31.1%	33.5%	-2.4%
No Effect	36.7%	33.9%	2.8%
Reduced these a little	7.3%	8.4%	-1.0%
Reduced these significantly	5.8%	4.5%	1.4%

The 2 administration burden questions for the 2024 survey are compared below:

7.6.5. TTP administration burden – During pandemic

How did the administration burden of arranging TTP change?	Responses	% of answered
Add to these significantly	55	15.2%
Add to these a little	115	31.7%
No effect	116	32.0%
Reduced these a little	54	14.9%
Reduced these significantly	23	6.3%

7.6.6. TTP administration burden – Post-pandemic

How did the administration burden of arranging TTP change?	Responses	% of answered
Add to these significantly	75	19.0%
Add to these a little	123	31.1%
No effect	145	36.7%
Reduced these a little	29	7.3%
Reduced these significantly	23	5.8%

7.7. Online Self-Serve TTP Service

Like with other TTP questions, response rate to this question is low, with only 2.4% of total respondents having used an online TTP self-service, though this represents just over one-quarter of responses to this question. Customers who had not used the service were asked to elaborate why:

7.7.1. Have you used the online services to arrange a TTP?

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	242	2.4%	26.7%
No	666	6.6%	73.3%
Total answered	908	9.0%	100%

7.7.2. Why have you not used the self-service TTP service?

Of those who answered this question, the slight majority did not use the service because they wanted the reassurance of speaking to an HMRC agent. 33% of answers came from respondents who were not aware of the service, while 30% couldn’t use the service due to eligibility requirements.

If you have not used the self serve TTP service is this because:	Count of responses (note)	As % of total	As % of answered
Did not want to use this service, prefer to speak to an operative	178	26.7%	39.1%
You are not aware of this service	154	18.5%	33.80%
Tried to use this but did not meet the criteria	123	23.1%	27.0%
Total answered	455	69.4%	100%

Note: Filtered to only participants who answered that they had not used the online TTP service.

7.7.3. If you have used the online services to arrange a TTP, which self-serve online TTP did you use?

Just under half of respondents who answered this question had used the Self-Assessment TTP self-service, either on its own or alongside others. VAT was the next most common option.

Tax type	Count of responses (note)	As % of total	As % of answered
SA	98	40.5%	48.3%
VAT	47	19.4%	23.2%
PAYE	25	10.3%	12.3%
PAYE and VAT	15	6.2%	7.4%
SA and PAYE	10	4.1%	4.9%
SA and VAT	8	3.3%	3.9%
Total answered	203	83.8%	100%

Note: Filtered to only participants who answered that they had used the online TTP service.

7.7.4. If you have used the self-service TTP service how did you find it?

The majority of respondents who had used TTP self-service found it easy to follow.

Rating	Count of responses (note)	As % of total	As % of answered
Easy to follow	154	63.2%	78.7%
Difficult to follow	43	17.8%	21.3%
Total answered	197	81.4%	100%

Note: Filtered to only participants who answered that they had used the online TTP service.

7.7.5. How did you find out about the self-serve TTP online service

Most respondents to this question heard about the TTP online self-service though the Personal/Business tax account, or on GOV.UK. The second most common answer was ‘other’ indicating a popular but unaccounted source for information on TTP self-service.

Communication method	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
GOV.UK/personal tax account/business tax account	174	1.7%	32.2%
Word of mouth	79	0.8%	14.6%
HMRC letter	76	0.8%	14.1%
HMRC advisor	51	0.5%	9.4%
Other	160	1.6%	29.6%
Total answered	540	5.4%	100%

8. Working from Home (WFH) and Nomadic Workers

In the 2023 survey, a single set of questions were asked concerning WFH and Nomadic Workers. This year’s survey asks a separate set of questions for each. Where possible, respondents have been grouped together to compare to the 2023 survey, but this is not possible when comparing ease of guidance and administration burdens.

8.1. Do you have these workers?

52% of respondents to this question had workers who work from home, but only 17% had nomadic workers. When comparing the proportion of people who answered ‘Yes’ to either question this year to the 2023 survey, we see a 9.6 percentage point drop, indicating a drop in WFH or Nomadic Workers. Considering that the number of respondents who said they had nomadic workers is greater than one-third of the number with workers who work from home, it is more likely that this drop is due to less WFH than fewer nomadic workers.

8.1.1. Do you have workers who Work from Home?

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	3,133	31.2%	51.9%
No	2,905	28.9%	48.1%
Total answered	6,038	60.1%	100%

8.1.2. Do you have workers who are Nomadic Workers?

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	1,026	10.2%	16.8%
No	5,084	50.6%	83.2%
Total answered	6,110	60.8%	100%

8.1.3. Do you have workers who work from home or are Nomadic workers?

Response	2024	2023
Yes	3,337	4,730
No	2,796	2,661
Total answered	6,133	7,391

8.1.4. Do you have workers who work from home or are Nomadic Workers? – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	54.4%	64.0%	-9.6%
No	45.6%	36.0%	9.6%

8.2. Awareness and ease of HMRC guidance

8% of respondents were familiar with HMRC’s WFH guidance, compared to just 2.3% for nomadic workers guidance. This represents 59% and 24% of respondents who answered these questions respectively.

8.2.1. Are you familiar with HMRC’s guidance for WFH and Nomadic Workers – WFH

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	1,801	17.9%	58.8%
No	1,264	12.6%	41.2%
Total answered	3,065	30.5%	100%

8.2.2. Are you familiar with HMRC’s guidance for WFH and Nomadic Workers – Nomadic Workers

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	231	2.3%	24.0%
No	733	7.3%	76.0%
Total answered	964	9.6%	100%

8.2.3. Are you familiar with HMRC’s guidance for WFH and Nomadic workers?

Awareness of guidance saw a drop of 3.8 PPTs from last year’s survey. The 2024 survey also saw fewer respondents answering this question (either concerning WFH or Nomadic workers guidance).

Response	2024	2023
Yes	1,846	2,813
No	1,388	1,805
Total answered	3,234	4,618

8.2.4. Are you familiar with HMRC’s guidance for WFH and Nomadic Workers? – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	57.1%	60.9%	-3.8%
No	42.9%	39.1%	3.8%

8.2.5. How did you find the guidance – WFH

When asked how easy they found HMRC’s guidance to follow, 76% of answering respondents said that the WFH guidance was easy to follow, compared to 57% who thought the Nomadic Workers guidance was easy to follow.

Rating	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Easy to follow	1,223	10.49%	75.92%
Difficult to follow	388	3.33%	24.08%
Total answered	1,611	13.81%	100%

8.2.6. How did you find the guidance – Nomadic Workers

Rating	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Easy to follow	128	1.25%	57.40%
Difficult to follow	95	0.92%	42.60%
Total answered	223	2.17%	100%

8.3. WFH and Nomadic rules – Administration burden

For both WFH and Nomadic Workers, the highest proportion of respondents who answered this question said that the rules had no effect on the admin burden (68% and 69% respectively). Very few respondents reported a reduction in admin burden, with the second highest proportion (28% and 29% respectively) citing a slight increase in admin burden.

Thinking about the administration burdens on you or your business have the WFH and Nomadic Workers rules:

Burden	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Added to these significantly	167	1.7%	8.6%
Added to these a little	554	5.6%	28.4%
No effect	1,333	13.5%	68.3%
Reduced these a little	43	0.4%	2.2%
Reduced these significantly	21	0.2%	1.1%
Total answered	2,118	21.1%	100%

9. Off Payroll Working (OPW – IR35)

Of respondents who answered that they had experience of IR35, 38% answered ‘other’, such as an agent or an advisor. Second highest was employers or clients (30%).

Have you experienced OPW (IR35) as:	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered	As % of answered (excluding ‘None’)
An employer/client	512	5.1%	7.7%	29.8%
A worker previously working through their own intermediary, such as a personal service company (PSC), who is working as a PSC and deemed outside the rules by a client (working as self-employed paying tax as a PSC still)	203	2.0%	3.1%	11.8%
An employment agency or payroll company dealing with OPW	114	1.1%	1.7%	6.6%
A worker previously working through their own intermediary (such as a personal service company ‘PSC’) who is still working as a PSC providing services to a small private sector client	104	1.0%	1.6%	6.0%
A worker previously working through their own intermediary (such as a PSC) who is no longer working as a PSC (for example instead working as a direct employee of the client or another organisation)	72	0.7%	1.1%	4.2%
A worker previously working through their own intermediary (such as a PSC) who is working as a PSC and deemed inside the rules by a client (working as an employee and paying tax as an employee)	67	0.7%	1.0%	3.9%
Other (such as an agent or advisor)	648	6.4%	9.8%	37.7%
None	4,899	48.7%	74.0%	No data
Total answered	6,619	65.8%	100%	100%

9.1. Engaging with Off-Payroll workers

2.6% of total respondents answered ‘yes’ to this question, representing 4.4% of respondents who answered this question. This was not as substantial as the 3.3% who responded that they didn’t know if they engaged off payroll workers.

9.1.1. Are you a client who as of 1st April 2022 engages off payroll workers?

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	261	2.6%	4.4%
No	5,278	52.5%	89.9%
Don’t know	329	3.3%	5.6%
Total answered	5,868	58.4%	100%

9.2. OPW guidance

5% (9% of those who answered) of respondents said that they had used the new online OPW guidance. The majority of respondents found the OPW guidance neither easy or difficult to use, however of those that voted in the easy and difficult categories, there were 157 easy responses against 139 difficult responses.

9.2.1. Have you used the new off payroll working online guidance products?

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	504	5.0%	9.1%
No	5,038	50.1%	90.9%
Total answered	5,542	55.1%	100%

9.2.2. If yes, how easy and useful did you find it?

Overall, respondents did not find the guidance useful (71.3% ‘not useful to use’ versus 28.7% ‘useful to use’).

Rating	Count of responses	As % of responses	As % of section
Very difficult to use	60	4.5%	12.3%
Difficult to use	79	5.9%	16.2%
Neither easy nor difficult	192	14.3%	39.3%
Easy to use	113	8.4%	23.2%
Very easy to use	44	3.3%	9.0%
Useful to use	43	3.2%	28.7%
Not useful to use	107	7.9%	71.3%
Haven’t used it	709	52.6%	100%

Note: Respondents could select 2 responses to this question.

We have also examined responses to this question from solely the respondents who answered that they had OPW experience as an employer or client:

9.2.2. If yes, how easy and useful did you find it? (Employers and clients only)

Rating	Count of responses	As % of responses	As % of section
Very difficult to use	9	4.9%	8.3%
Difficult to use	19	10.3%	17.4%
Neither easy nor difficult	37	20.0%	33.9%
Easy to use	26	14.1%	23.9%
Very easy to use	18	9.7%	16.5%
Useful to use	11	5.9%	42.3%
Not useful to use	15	8.1%	57.7%
Haven’t used it	50	27.0%	100%

Note: Respondents could select 2 responses to this question.

9.3. Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST)

9.3.1. Do you use the HMRC employment status tool CEST?

9.1% of respondents said that they used the CEST tool. 63% of answering respondents who used CEST found it helpful.

Response	Count of responses (note)	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	911	9.1%	17.7%
No	4,223	42.0%	82.3%
Total answered	5,134	51.1%	100%

Note: Filtered to only those who answered that they do use the CEST tool.

9.3.2. Do you find CEST useful?

Response	Count of responses (note)	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	548	60.2%	63.1%
No	320	35.1%	36.9%
Total answered	868	95.3%	100%

Note: Filtered to only those who answered that they do use the CEST tool.

10. Basis Period Reform

These questions were only asked to the 16% of respondents who declared that they were agents.

10.1. Awareness of changes

10.1.1. Are you aware of the changes proposed for Basis Period Reform?

Of those that answered this question, 96.3% of agents said that they were aware of the changes proposed to Basis Period Reform to some degree, with 56% saying they were very aware. Compared to last year, a substantial 13 percentage point more agents said that they were very aware. A drop of 3.5 PPTs in the proportion of customers who were not aware indicates greater awareness of the proposed changes.

Awareness	2024	2023
Very aware	731	276
Aware	387	205
Somewhat aware	134	113
Not aware	48	46
Total answered	1,300	640

10.1.1. Are you aware of the changes proposed for Basis Period Reform? – percentage of respondents

Awareness	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Very aware	56.2%	43.1%	13.1%
Aware	29.8%	32.0%	-2.3%
Somewhat aware	10.3%	17.7%	-7.3%
Not aware	3.7%	7.2%	-3.5%

10.2. Helping clients change

10.2.1. Have you helped any clients change to the tax year basis already?

The proportion of agents who had helped their clients change to the tax year basis saw a large increase from 27% in 2023 to 50% in 2024.

Response	2024	2023
Yes	630	157
No	642	430
Total answered	1,272	587

10.2.1. Have you helped any clients change to the tax year basis already? – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	49.5%	26.7%	22.8%
No	50.5%	73.3%	-22.8%

10.3. Impacts of the reform

10.3.1. Do you believe this change will result in an improvement in business taxation and reduce businesses compliance costs in the long term?

21% of respondents from this year’s survey believed that the reforms would have a positive effect. This is 2.8 PPTs higher than last year’s survey, but generally the response to the proposals remains strongly unfavourable.

Response	2024	2023
Yes	259	104
No	626	306
Not sure	341	156
Total answered	1,226	566

10.3.2. Do you believe this change will result in an improvement in business taxation and reduce businesses compliance costs in the long term? – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered (2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	21.1%	18.4%	2.8%
No	51.1%	54.1%	-3.0%
Not sure	27.8%	27.6%	0.3%

10.4. Embracing changes and benefits

10.4.1. Do you or your business embrace these changes when considering the increase in usage of technology enabled products?

The majority of agents said that they embrace these changes. When responding about the benefits/lack of benefits of technology, agent feedback indicated that there was an increase in efficiency, but this came at the cost of further training, as well as cost increases rather than cost savings.

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	695	44.4%	62.4%
No	418	26.7%	37.6%
Total answered	1,113	71.1%	100%

10.5. How has your business benefited or not benefited from technology?

Benefit	Count of responses	As % of responses (by section)
Increased efficiency	612	35.1%
Cost savings	120	6.9%
Limited training required	79	4.5%
Reduced efficiency	116	6.7%
Cost increases	448	25.7%
Training required	369	21.2%

Note: Respondents could select multiple responses to this question.

11. Personal and Business Tax Accounts

11.1. Account Usage

27% of respondents stated that they had used the BTA, with a near identical proportion having used the PTA.

11.1.1. Have you used the Business Tax Accounts (BTA)

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	2,695	26.8%	52.9%
No	2,397	23.8%	47.1%
Total answered	5,092	50.7%	100%

11.1.2. Have you used the Personal Tax Accounts (PTA)

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	2,683	26.7%	63.6%
No	1,535	15.3%	36.4%
Total answered	4,218	42.0%	100%

11.2. Administration burden compared to paper-based approach

The majority of respondents, for both the Business (40% of answering respondents) and Personal (37%) tax accounts, report no effect on business tax administration burden from the use of either. More respondents reported a reduction in admin burden than an increase.

11.2.1. BTA – If ‘Yes’, compared with the previous paper-based approach, do you think that this has reduced or increased your administrative burden in dealing with your BTA?

Administrative burden	Count of responses (note)	As % of total	As % of answered
Added to these significantly	147	5.5%	6.0%
Added to these a little	313	11.6%	12.7%
No effect	977	36.3%	39.8%
Reduced these a little	737	27.3%	30.0%
Reduced these significantly	283	10.5%	11.5%
Other	No data	No data	No data
Total answered	2,457	91.2%	100%

Note: Filtered to just those who responded that they had used the BTA.

11.2.2. PTA – If ‘Yes’, compared with the previous paper-based approach, do you think that this has reduced or increased your administrative burden in dealing with your PTA?

Administrative burden	Count of responses (note)	As % of total	As % of answered
Added to these significantly	147	5.5%	5.8%
Added to these a little	287	10.7%	11.3%
No effect	929	34.6%	36.6%
Reduced these a little	748	27.9%	29.4%
Reduced these significantly	390	14.5%	15.3%
Other	40	1.5%	1.6%
Total answered	2,541	94.7%	100%

11.3. Reasons for not using PTA/BTA

The main reason respondents gave for not using the PTA/BTA was not covered in the options presented in the question, with the majority of respondents answering ‘other’.

11.3.1. BTA – if ‘No’, why not?

Administrative burden	Count of responses (note)	As % of total	As % of answered
Too difficult to register	231	9.6%	17.1%
Do not or cannot work online	178	7.4%	13.2%
Other	944	39.4%	69.8%
Total answered	1,353	56.4%	100%

11.3.2. PTA – if ‘No’, why not?

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Too difficult to register	150	9.8%	17.0%
Do not or cannot work online	138	9.0%	15.6%
Other	596	38.8%	67.4%
Total answered	884	57.6%	100%

12. HMRC communications and engagement

Survey recipients were asked, if they had used a particular channel, to rate how useful the service was that they received. In this year’s survey, separate questions were asked about telephony, webchat, and the HMRC app. Across all services, the majority of answering respondents rated usefulness as ‘poor’, though the exact proportion varies across services.

12.1. Usefulness of contact services – Webchat

Rating	Count of responses	As % of total
Poor	1,697	59.7%
Average	640	22.5%
Good	402	14.1%
Excellent	105	3.7%
Total answered	2,844	100%

12.1.2. Usefulness of contact services – Telephony

Rating	Count of responses	As % of total
Poor	2,315	54.7%
Average	891	21.1%
Good	783	18.5%
Excellent	243	5.7%
Total answered	4,232	100%

12.1.3. Usefulness of contact services – App

Rating	Count of responses	As % of total
Poor	679	48.3%
Average	394	28.0%
Good	268	19.1%
Excellent	64	4.6%
Total answered	1,405	100%

Last year a single question about Webchat and Telephony was asked; combining the above responses for these two channels, and comparing with last year shows a decline in satisfaction with those rating the services as poor increasing from 40% to 57%.

12.1.4. Usefulness of contact services – Webchat and Telephony

Rating	Count of responses 2024	As % of answered 2024	Count of responses 2023	As % of answered 2023
Poor	4,012	56.7%	1,961	39.8%
Average	1,531	21.6%	1,371	27.8%
Good	1,185	16.7%	1,245	25.3%
Excellent	348	4.9%	347	7.0%
Total answered	7,076	100%	4,924	100%

12.2. YouTube

Compared to last year, a lower proportion of respondents were aware of HMRC’s YouTube videos. Additionally, fewer respondents completed this question compared to last year.

12.2.1. Have you watched any of HMRC’s YouTube videos?

Response	2024	2023
Yes	1,490	2,330
No	3,405	4,619
Total answered	4,895	6,949

12.2.2. Have you watched any of HMRC’s YouTube videos? – percentage of respondents

Response	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Yes	30.4%	33.5%	-3.1%
No	69.6%	66.5%	3.1%

Of those that had seen a HMRC YouTube video, the majority rated them as ‘average’. This is a change to last year’s survey, where the majority rated the videos as ‘good’. The proportions of respondents rating the videos as poor or excellent have remained largely the same.

12.2.3. How did you rate the YouTube videos?

Rating	2024	2023
Poor	130	217
Average	601	715
Good	576	930
Excellent	73	111
Total answered	1,380	1,973

12.2.4. How did you rate the YouTube videos? – percentage of respondents (note)

Rating	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Poor	9.4%	11.0%	-1.6%
Average	43.6%	36.2%	7.4%
Good	41.7%	47.1%	-5.4%
Excellent	5.3%	5.6%	-0.3%

Note: Filtered to only respondents who responded that they had watched an HMRC YouTube video.

The ways that the YouTube videos are discovered do not appear to have changed substantially from the 2023 survey.

12.2.5. How did you find out about the YouTube videos?

Information source	2024	2023
HMRC communications	892	1,563
GOV.UK	563	1,022
Google	204	302
A friend or associate	49	49
Total answered	1,708	2,936

12.2.6. How did you find out about the YouTube videos? – percentage of respondents

Information source	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
HMRC communications	52.20%	53.2%	1.0%
GOV.UK	33.00%	34.8%	1.8%
Google	11.90%	10.3%	-1.6%
A friend or associate	2.90%	1.7%	-1.2%

12.3. Improvement in the last 12 months

The experience is not markedly different by age of respondent or by business turnover, but is by business type with agents rating the experience as worsening more than businesses.

12.3.1. Has your customer experience of engaging with HMRC improved during the last 12 months?

Rating	2024	2023
Worse	1,806	1,865
Stayed the same	2,312	3,381
Improved	166	298
Total answered	4,284	5,544

12.3.2. Has your customer experience of engaging with HMRC improved during the last 12 months? – percentage of respondents

Rating	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Worse	42.2%	33.6%	8.5%
Stayed the same	54.0%	61.0%	-7.0%
Improved	3.9%	5.4%	-1.5%

12.3.3. Has your customer experience of engaging with HMRC improved during the last 12 months?

With the data from the 2023 survey, we can compare how customer experience has changed year on year.

As with last year, the majority of respondents commented that their experience was the same as 12 months prior, though this proportion is smaller than the 2024 survey. In terms of those whose experience changed, the proportion of respondents whose experience got worse increased from 34% to 42%. Whilst the percentages for 2023 and 2024 are broadly similar, it should be noted that the impact of burdens are cumulative year-on-year.

Rating	Business	Agent
Worse	33%	87%
Stayed the same	63%	12%
Improved	4%	1%

12.4. Legislative burden and impact

12.4.1. Do you feel the legislative burden in regard to tax compliance has changed during the last 12 months?

When asked about whether they feel the legislative burden of tax compliance had changed during the last 12 months, there was a majority split between those who thought it had got worse, and those who said it had stayed the same, with the ‘worse’ proportion increasing slightly. Only 1.7% of answering respondents commented that it had improved. Again, it should be noted that these experiences are cumulative year-on-year.

Impact of legislative changes were very similar to the 2023 survey, with the proportions shifting towards ‘No’ by greater than 1 percentage point.

Rating	2024	2023
Worse	2,104	2,629
Stayed the same	2,061	2,882
Improved	73	119
Total answered	4,284	5,544

12.4.2. Have you felt impacted by legislative changes particularly in regard to tax compliance during the last 12 months?

Response	2024	2023
Yes	2,007	2,710
No	2,172	2,828
Total answered	4,179	5,538

12.5. Helpline response times

The majority of respondents rated the helpline response time as poor, and moreover, this was a substantially increased proportion compared to last year’s survey (from 43% to 63%). This is reflected by a drop of similar scale in ‘Neither good nor bad’, indicating that customers are moving away from neutral feelings about the response times, and it is growing into a key issue.

12.5.1. If you have telephoned an HMRC helpline in the last year what was your impression of the response times?

Rating	2024	2023
Poor	1,941	1,435
Bad	553	685
Neither good nor bad	308	964
Good	220	No data
Very good	57	248
Total answered	3,079	3,332

12.5.2. If you have telephoned an HMRC helpline in the last year what was your impression of the response times? – percentage of respondents

Rating	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Poor	63.0%	43.1%	20.0%
Bad	18.0%	20.6%	-2.6%
Neither good nor bad	10.0%	28.9%	-18.9%
Good	7.1%	Not applicable	7.1%
Very good	1.9%	7.4%	-5.6%

12.6. Business Tax Information and HMRC Guidance

GOV.UK continues to be the main source that respondents use for business tax information, this is closely followed by agents/accountancy firms. The only notable change from last year’s survey is the inclusion of an ‘other’ category that was not an option in 2023. This accounted for 5.7% of the responses, with GOV.UK seeing a 5.3 percentage point drop in proportion from last year.

12.6.1. Where do you find information to help your business tax affairs?

Information source	2024	2023
GOV.UK website	2,372	2,605
Agents/accountancy firm	2,347	2,253
My professional body	389	341
Publications	174	181
In-house accountant	79	94
Non-government contacts	48	87
Friends and family	45	68
Other	331	No data
Total answered	5,785	5,629

12.6.2. Where do you find information to help your business tax affairs? – percentage of respondents

Where do you find information to help your business tax affairs?	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
GOV.UK website	41.0%	46.3%	-5.3%
Agents/accountancy firm	40.6%	40.0%	0.5%
My professional body	6.7%	6.1%	0.7%
Publications	3.0%	3.2%	-0.2%
In-house accountant	1.4%	1.7%	-0.3%
Non-government contacts	0.8%	1.5%	-0.7%
Friends and family	0.8%	1.2%	-0.4%
Other	5.7%	No data	5.7%

12.6.3. Helpfulness of HMRC guidance

There was an increase in the proportion of respondents saying that HMRC guidance was average or unhelpful, though there was a 7.4 percentage point decrease in respondents voting ‘very unhelpful’.

Looking across all the ways you obtain guidance from HMRC, would you say that it is:

Rating	2024	2023
Very helpful	215	245
Generally helpful	1,829	1,851
Average	2,001	1,736
Unhelpful	526	226
Very unhelpful (note)	253	588

Note: In the 2023 survey, this response was written as ‘not very helpful’.

12.6.4. Helpfulness of HMRC guidance – percentage of respondents

Rating	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Very helpful	4.5%	5.3%	-0.8%
Generally helpful	37.9%	39.8%	-1.9%
Average	41.5%	37.4%	4.1%
Unhelpful	10.9%	4.9%	6.0%
Very unhelpful (note)	5.2%	12.7%	-7.4%

Note: In the 2023 survey, this response was written as “not very helpful’.

12.6.5. Accessibility of HMRC guidance

Overall there has been little change in how respondents rate the helpfulness of HMRC guidance, with just an indication of a slight improvement with 84% rating the guidance as average or better compared with 83% last year. Accessibility however appears to have improved substantially since the 2023 survey, with an increase from 13% to 33% of respondents rating the guidance as ‘accessible’.

Looking across all the ways you obtain guidance from HMRC, would you say that it is:

Rating	2024	2023
Very accessible	50	11
Accessible	541	90
Difficult to access	632	323
Very difficult to access	403	278

12.6.5. Accessibility of HMRC guidance – percentage of respondents

Rating	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Very accessible	3.1%	1.6%	1.5%
Accessible	33.3%	12.8%	20.5%
Difficult to access	38.9%	46.0%	-7.1%
Very difficult to access	24.8%	39.6%	-14.8%

12.6.6. Problems with guidance

Customers were asked what GOV.UK guidance they used when starting/growing their business, as well as any issues they had with it. A substantial number of customers responded that GOV.UK did not exist when their business started, giving no further response to the question. For those that gave further detail, many respondents found the HMRC guidance difficult, preferring instead to get guidance from other websites, accountants, or paid advice lines. Respondents found guidance difficult to understand, saying that they would prefer it in plain English, with a lack of jargon.

12.6.7. What other guidance is needed?

Respondents were also asked what other areas they needed guidance on, or better pointers to. The majority of feedback appears to be related to issues with contacting HMRC agents over the phone, complaining of long queues and phones not being answered. Customers claim that, since the guidance on the website is not clear enough, they have to resort to the phone. Respondents mentioning the GOV.UK guidance often say that they are going ‘in circles’ trying to find an answer to their query. There appears to be no consensus on any specific guidance that needs improvement.

12.6.8. Communication of changes

If there are changes to the tax system, especially if they are announced well in advance, would you prefer the changes to be made:

28% of respondents, reflecting 74% of those that answered this question, would prefer changes to the tax system be made at the start of the tax year. More respondents would prefer changes be made at any time than be made at the start of the calendar year, indicating a favour to work to the established April to March tax year system.

Change start	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
At the start of the tax year	2,810	28.0%	74.3%
At any time	701	7.0%	18.5%
At the start of the calendar year	270	2.7%	7.1%
Total answered	3,781	37.6%	100%

12.7. Benefits in kind

If you previously submitted benefits in kind using the P11D form but now payroll these benefits, which approach do you feel was least burdensome?

11% of respondents found the previous P11D less burdensome, compared to 4% who preferred the current process of payrolling.

Benefits in kind approach	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
P11D	1,108	11.0%	20.8%
Payrolling benefits in kind	424	4.2%	8.0%
Not applicable- no benefits in kind	3,798	37.8%	71.3%
Total answered	5,330	53.0%	100%

12.7.1. Has P11D mandatory online filing versus paper submission added or reduced your burden for this process?

28% of respondents report no change to the administrative burden of benefit in kind reporting through P11D. More respondents report an increase in the burden for this process (7.1%) than a reduction (4.7%).

Effect	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Added to these significantly	259	2.6%	6.5%
Added to these a little	450	4.5%	11.4%
No effect	2,782	27.7%	70.3%
Reduced these a little	337	3.4%	8.5%
Reduced these significantly	128	1.3%	3.2%
Total answered	3,956	39.4%	100%

12.8. New methods of interaction with HMRC

When asked whether they would consider interacting with HMRC through alternative channels, such as YouTube, Skype, Webchat and SMS, 50% said that they would Definitely Not use these channels, with a further 17% answering ‘Possibly not’. The proportion in respondents answered ‘definitely not’ has increased by 6.6 PPTs from the 2023 survey.

12.8.1. Would you consider using the following to interact with HMRC – YouTube/Skype/Webchat/SMS?

Consideration	2024	2023
Definitely not	2,164	1,954
Possibly not	727	852
Might or might not	761	860
Probably	508	648
Definitely	213	246
Total answered	4,373	4,560

12.8.2. Would you consider using the following to interact with HMRC – YouTube/Skype/Webchat/SMS? – percentage of respondents

Consideration	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Definitely not	49.5%	42.9%	6.6%
Possibly not	16.6%	18.7%	-2.1%
Might or might not	17.4%	18.9%	-1.5%
Probably	11.6%	14.2%	-2.6%
Definitely	4.9%	5.4%	-0.5%

12.8.3. Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

In this year’s survey, respondents were asked if they had used a Generative AI tool, such as Chat GPT, to answer a tax question:

519 respondents had used a Generative AI tool to answer a tax query. From the following question (filtered to only those who answered ‘Yes’ in the first question), we can see that 114 respondents obtained an answer that they thought resolved their query. This means that 22% of respondents who used AI believed they had obtained a useful answer.

Have you used a Generative AI system such as Chat GPT to seek an answer to a tax query?

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	519	5.2%	11.8%
No	3,864	38.4%	88.2%
Total answered	4,383	43.6%	100%

Did you get an answer which you felt resolved your query?

Response	Count of responses	As % of total	As % of answered
Yes	114	22.6%	22.8%
No	267	51.2%	51.9%
Wasn’t sure and sought an answer elsewhere	132	24.9%	25.3%
Total answered	513	99.8%	100%

Note: Filtered to only include those who answered that they had used a Generative AI tool (6 of the 519 who answered ‘yes’ did not answer this question).

12.9. Written correspondence

12.9.1. If you have received any written correspondence from HMRC during the year how easy was it to read?

43% of respondents found that HMRC’s written correspondence was easy to read with a further 44% finding it ‘average’. Compared to 2023, there is however a decrease in the proportion of customers answering ‘easy’ and ‘very easy’ to read, indicating that customers are having more difficulty reading and understanding HMRC communication than last year. This is reinforced when looking at responses to the next question.

Rating	2024	2023
Very difficult to read	165	175
Difficult to read	454	433
Average	2,155	2,527
Easy to read	1,540	2,304
Very easy to read	559	950
Total answered	4,873	6,389

12.9.2. If you have received any written correspondence from HMRC during the year how easy was it to read? – percentage of respondents

Rating	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Very difficult to read	3.4%	2.7%	0.6%
Difficult to read	9.3%	6.8%	2.5%
Average	44.2%	39.6%	4.7%
Easy to read	31.6%	36.1%	-4.5%
Very easy to read	11.5%	14.9%	-3.4%

12.9.3. How easy was it to understand what you had to do next?

Rating	2024	2023
Neither easy nor difficult	1,977	2,385
Easy	1,176	1,731
Difficult	615	697
Very easy	372	632
Very difficult	284	270
Total answered	4,424	5,715

12.9.3. How easy was it to understand what you had to do next? – percentage of respondents

Similar to the previous question, the highest proportion of responses were ‘neither easy nor difficult’ although overall again, the majority of respondents did not find it difficult to understand what they needed to do next. We can also see a decrease in the proportion of respondents answering ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ and an increase in those finding it difficult or very difficult, again mirroring the previous question.

Survey recipients were also asked about specific improvements to letters they would want to see from HMRC. Letters not being in plain English is a common complaint, along with customers who would rather all communication be via email rather than paper. Frustration at not being able to speak to a knowledgeable HMRC adviser is apparent in responses to this question, with respondents suggesting the contact details of a named person or case officer be printed in the letter to allow them to make direct contact. Some customers say that there are no contact details of any kind on the letters they receive, meaning they cannot call to get further information. Respondents also mention that HMRC post response times are too slow.

Rating	% of answered 2024	% of answered 2023	PPT change since 2023
Neither easy nor difficult	44.7%	41.7%	3.0%
Easy	26.6%	30.3%	-3.7%
Difficult	13.9%	12.2%	1.7%
Very easy	8.4%	11.1%	-2.6%
Very difficult	6.4%	4.7%	1.7%

12.10. Business forms

When asked about which business forms are most problematic, Corporation Tax was the most commonly cited form, with CT600 being described as ‘onerous’, with ‘too many boxes’ to complete. The 64-8 form was also mentioned around 60 times across responses, with respondents finding it difficult to have to print and post a paper form, especially with a tight 30 day deadline. VAT returns were also mentioned, alongside comments about how the move to MTD is making these returns more difficult.

The following question asked the reverse; which forms respondents thought were good. While ‘none’ was a very common response, 64-8 also appeared highly in this question. Respondents commented that the changes to allow online authorisation to be granted on this form are beneficial, and they would welcome this being applied to other forms. Many respondents also found VAT easier to submit, although this was usually accompanied by comments that it was the version of the form accessed through their accounting software, so it may not be a direct comment on the HMRC form.

12.11. Online services

Respondents were asked to comment in free text which tax processes would they like to use online that they cannot access at the moment. Many responses came from agents talking about actions they would like to take on behalf of their clients, such as registering or removing clients from SA. Other requests include chasing refunds and viewing and amending tax codes. Conversely, those who use accountants say they have issues viewing their own information directly through HMRC, having to instead ask their accountants to access the information for them.

13. Conclusions

Once again, thank you to everyone who took part in the 2024 Tell ABAB Survey. We appreciate you taking the time to share your views and experiences. The record number of responses once again this year indicates a strength of feeling from small businesses to let us know about the critical issues as they see them.

ABAB’s engagement relationship with HMRC provides us with regular opportunities to deliver insights to their senior leaders, and to constructively challenge them to use the evidence you have provided.

We will use the findings from this survey to seek to influence the direction of HMRC’s work (where needed) and inform our priorities for the coming year. We will also share a copy of this report with the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (XST), the government minister responsible for HMRC.

In December, we will also submit our ABAB Annual Report for 2024 to the XST. In that report, we will review HMRC’s progress and performance against the priorities we set in 2023.