Supporting taxpayers with AI-powered query resolution
Publicly sourced
The challenge
HMRC needed to provide 24/7 tax support to millions of UK taxpayers and businesses while reducing the burden on human advisers who were handling repetitive, basic tax queries that traditionally required phone calls or manual support.
The solution
Ask HMRC Online is a digital assistant that uses Natural Language Understanding and intent classification to provide instant responses to common tax queries. The system operates through HMRC's Multi-Channel Digital Tax Platform, using trained classifiers to recognize user intents and provide appropriate guidance across multiple tax types. When queries exceed the system's capability, it seamlessly escalates users to human webchat advisers for complex cases requiring expert knowledge.
The results
Since going live over 5 years ago, Ask HMRC Online has delivered significant operational improvements and measurable impact:
Performance metrics (official HMRC data):
5.48 million interactions in tax year 2024/25 (18.8% growth from previous year)
83.03% NLU accuracy on known intents (March 2025)
20% reduction in human advisor escalations in 2024/25 from 2023/24 (with a total of 909,000 escalations in 2024/25)
24/7 availability covering 60 of HMRC's 120+ tax types
Ask HMRC Online
Supporting taxpayers with AI-powered query resolution
The challenge
HMRC needed to provide 24/7 tax support to millions of UK taxpayers and businesses while reducing the burden on human advisers who were handling repetitive, basic tax queries that traditionally required phone calls or manual support.
The solution
Ask HMRC Online is a digital assistant that uses Natural Language Understanding and intent classification to provide instant responses to common tax queries. The system operates through HMRC's Multi-Channel Digital Tax Platform, using trained classifiers to recognize user intents and provide appropriate guidance across multiple tax types. When queries exceed the system's capability, it seamlessly escalates users to human webchat advisers for complex cases requiring expert knowledge.
The results
Since going live over 5 years ago, Ask HMRC Online has delivered significant operational improvements and measurable impact: Performance metrics (official HMRC data):
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