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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rupert Jones

Tax hotline allows MPs and VIPs to skip the queues at HMRC

HMRC
businessman talking on smartphone
HMRC says the PD1 helpline is for people ‘who need a greater level of protection due to their identity or job’. Photograph: IDREAMSTOCK/Alamy

MPs, some civil servants and other high-profile figures are having their calls to HM Revenue and Customs answered up to 12 times faster than the general public because they are able to access a “VIP” hotline.

As a report found that customer service levels at HMRC have sunk to an “all-time low”, with users regularly encountering long call-waiting times, it has emerged that certain individuals are able to beat the queues by using a little-known fast-track helpline called “Public Department 1” (PD1).

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