HMRC built an AI to argue with before you argue with a human
Key Points
- Ask HMRC digital assistant handled 6.3 million interactions in 2025 to 2026
- HMRC is upgrading the assistant to understand questions in natural language
- Over 8 in 10 calls answered in 2025 to 2026, with reduced waiting times
- £818.8 million in Self Assessment payments made via the HMRC app in January 2026
- HMRC targets 90% digital customer interactions by 2030
Ask HMRC, the department’s AI-powered digital assistant, handled more than 6.3 million interactions during the 2025 to 2026 tax year. And it is about to get considerably more capable.
HMRC confirmed that work was underway to make the assistant genuinely ‘conversational’, which will enable it to understand questions asked in a customer’s own words, rather than requiring the stilted keyword prodding that most chatbots rely on.
HMRC’s ambition is for at least 90% of customer interactions to happen through digital channels by 2030, up from 78% in the 2025 to 2026 year.
The theory is that if the chatbot, the app and the online account can absorb the simple queries – such as where’s my refund, what does this tax code mean, how do I pay – then the humans who remain on the phones can be reserved for people with genuinely complex problems, or those who cannot use digital services at all.
There is evidence that the approach is working. More than 8 in 10 calls to HMRC were answered in 2025 to 2026, waiting times fell, and the department met its 15-working-day target for post in all but one month from August 2025 onwards.
HMRC’s app attracted 7.6 million unique users, and £818.8 million in Self Assessment payments flowed through it in January 2026 alone, up from £499 million in January 2025.
A new Contact Centre as a Service platform will embed AI directly into call handling – managing queues, predicting wait times and offering what the department called intelligent digital assistant support.
Voice biometrics now lets callers use their voiceprint as a password. AI call summarisation, currently in pilot, drafts the adviser’s notes automatically. Even complaints are being handled by an algorithm to reach the right team faster.
The bet HMRC is making is that most people do not actually want to speak to a human but want their problem solved, by whatever answers fastest.
HMRC insisted its support model would remain fully inclusive, with dedicated routes for the digitally excluded and vulnerable.
