Research and analysis
Taxpayer experience of the HMRC repayments process
Research with PAYE taxpayers who received a tax repayment.
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Details
In 2022 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) commissioned Kantar to explore taxpayer experiences of the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax repayments process and to inform improvements to this process, including new, transformative solutions.
The research was qualitative, comprising 40 in-depth interviews with taxpayers who had received a tax repayment from HMRC.
The main findings were:
- taxpayer journeys varied depending on the type of taxpayer, as defined by their approach to financial management, their knowledge of tax affairs as well as their digital confidence and access
- the main barriers to taxpayers claiming a Bankers’ Automated Clearing Service (BACS) online repayment via their Personal Tax Account included issues regarding notification of repayment, difficulties logging in or signing up to a Personal Tax Account, fear of transacting online and taxpayer inertia
- the main facilitator to claiming via BACS online identified was a preference for using online services
- across the feedback on solutions, participants preferred a higher degree of automation, control or visibility over their repayment, and for the repayment to be paid as a lump sum, and not staggered