High cost of tax calls

We lost £33m last year waiting on the phone to tax call centres operated by HMRC.

The calls can cost over a pound a time if you're held for more than 10 minutes - as 6.5m callers were in the first six months of this financial year.

Often it's via an 0845 number, though HMRC says tax credit calls are now dealt with on an 0345 number.

So what's the difference?

0845

Calls are typically charged at between 1p and 10.5p per minute depending on the time of day for landline customers, and often include a call set-up fee.
Calls from mobile phones generally cost between 12p and 41p per minute.

0345

Calls cost no more than calls to geographic numbers (01 or 02) and must be included in inclusive minutes and discount schemes in the same way.
Calls from landlines are typically charged between 2p and 10p per minute; calls from mobiles typically cost between 10p and 40p per minute.
Calls from landlines and mobiles are included in free call packages.



Full call charges guide from Ofcom