Fancy a job with HMRC? Well, you won’t need to know about tax

HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS will hire staff even if they have no understanding of how the tax system works, according to descriptions for current vacancies.

A job advert for a “support officer” said applicants did not need “any existing knowledge or experience of tax to apply”, it has emerged. The role is mainly administrative but key responsibilities include “resolving customer queries and complaints in a courteous and professional manner”.

The only “desirable criteria” listed are experience of using Microsoft Outlook,

Word and Excel. The advert explains that applicants should have good organisational and communication skills, as well as being a “team player” and eager to learn “the required level of skills” to perform the role.

HMRC said the job was administrative and “not a tax professional role”. A spokesman added: “As such, it is entirely appropriate that candidates are recruited in this way and receive relevant training.”

It comes after the tax office failed to hit any of its customer service performance targets in its last financial year. Average call waiting times more than trebled, from five minutes 14 seconds in 2020-21 to 16 minutes 24 seconds last year. Chris Etherington, of accountants RSM, said allowing recruits to learn all their tax knowledge on the job could leave taxpayers struggling to find help.

“Some HMRC staff receive as little as two weeks’ training before they are put on the phone helplines,” he said. “Taxpayers are already dealing with poor customer service, which has been struggling ever since the pandemic.”

Around 95 per cent of staff at HMRC also work remotely at least one day in the working week, according to data previously obtained by this newspaper.