Corporate Services Customer Correspondence

Background HMRC uses more than 13,000 customer letters and forms, in addition to a growing number of emails, secure messages and SMS and online guidance (GOV.UK). Some of these letters and forms are sent in very large volumes to a wide range of customers. For instance, our Self Assessment outputs alone are sent to c11 million people, some with a sophisticated knowledge of tax (60% of SA customers use a tax agent) and others with little tax knowledge and variable levels of reading skills (e.g. where English is not their first language). We know that we can increase compliance and reduce low-value contact by simplifying HMRC's direct customer communications, using a more consistent t…