... Meanwhile, the taxman gets

THE results are in — and the winner of this year’s Wooden Spoon is HMRC. It picked up 30per cent of the total votes, followed by Virgin Media with 26pc and Scottish Power with 20 pc. You told us that the taxman repeatedly fails to deal with the simplest of complaints and routinely dishes out incorrect tax codes. Then, when you try to correct your records, you are given the run-around. You have also been left unable to claim vital help with childcare costs after being unable to log in to HMRC’s website. And when you tried to call, you couldn’t get through or were sent round the houses.

One reader, who has been forced repeatedly to dip into his savings to cover nursery bills because the website hasn’t worked, told us: ‘We are at our wits’ end trying to get our issues resolved and are beyond frustrated.’

Earlier this month it emerged that HMRC was criticised by MPs for making ordinary taxpayers trawl through automated menus and endure waits of nine minutes to speak to an adviser. Meanwhile, wealthy individuals are given their own personal helpers.

It also emerged that 6.7 million people paid the wrong amount in the financial year 2015 to 2016, up from 6.2 million the previous year.

Readers have also complained that the taxman has pocketed their savings. Money Mail revealed in November that people in their 50s and 60s who made extra payments to top up state pensions found they didn’t actually qualify for an increase. Yet when they asked for their money back, HMRC refused.

A spokesman for HMRC says: ‘We’re sorry that last year some customers didn’t receive the standard of service to which we are committed. We’ve made huge strides in delivering better customer service across the board — average call waiting times are now below five minutes, we’re open longer, and 14 million people have signed up to online tax accounts.’

The spokesman, however, says HMRC disagrees with MPs who accused it of being misleading over its call waiting times.