HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has continued in its attempts to improve its relationship with taxpayers by issuing a new taxpayers' charter.It is called 'Your Charter' and was launched on 11 November 2009.

The Charter was included in the Finance Act 2009 and sets out taxpayers' rights and how they should expect to be treated by HMRC. It also outlines what HMRC expects in return.

The new Charter says that, as a taxpayer you can expect HMRC to respect you and treat you as honest. HMRC also pledges to help you to get things right, treat you even-handedly, protect your information and respect your privacy. There are more direct commitments to 'tackling people who deliberately break the rules and challenge those who bend the rules' and to keeping the cost of dealing with HMRC as low as possible. In return, HMRC expects taxpayers to be honest, respect HMRC staff and take care to get things right. The Charter is published alongside the 'HMRC Vision' (launched on 3 November 2009) which is a statement of HMRC's aspirations.

The Vision is closely linked to the Charter and is relatively brief. In some respects, it is similar to the vision (or 'mission') statements of many other large organisations (stating a commitment to the professionalism and integrity, continuous improvement and success), but it also stresses HMRC's aspirations to understand and meet taxpayer needs. The Vision itself is as follows:

'We will close the tax gap, our customers will feel that the tax system is simple for them and even-handed, and we will be seen as a highly professional and efficient organisation.'

You can read both the Charter and the Vision in full on HMRC's website:

www.hmrc.gov.uk/charter/index.htm.

If you feel that HMRC is not acting towards you as a taxpayer in accordance with the Charter, the first step is to contact us.

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