The move follows last year’s tax chaos when millions of people were given incorrect Pay As You Earn (PAYE) codes, the Telegraph reports.
Accountants described the decision to close HMRC’s websites from 2-6 April as “very strange” but the taxmen insist it is necessary for routine computer maintenance.
Earlier this week, HMRC chairman Mike Clasper told MPs on a Treasury select committee: “The area where we have our biggest challenge is that people want to contact us by telephone and I’m not happy with the service we are providing. It’s not acceptable.”
But people will have to rely on the telephone service for four days spanning the end of this tax year and the beginning of the next one on April 5 and 6 respectively when HMRC goes offline.
George Bull of accountants Baker Tilly said: “A complete shutdown is unavoidable. Even the big banks close down their internet banking systems over Saturday night and Sunday morning for system upgrades.”
