HMRC said taxpayers using the PD1 service have reduced access to some of the tax office’s digital services, as well as the general helpline, due to the restrictions on their tax records.
Those who change gender have received access to PD1 since around 2005, when a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights recognising the rights of transgender people was incorporated into British law.
Transgender people who claim benefits or are in receipt of the state pension also have their queries handled by a specialist team at the Department for Work and Pensions.
After obtaining a gender certificate, their HMRC records are then passed to the fast-track service indefinitely unless a request is made by the taxpayer for this to be reversed.
The policy has divided opinion online, with some users on a popular transgender Reddit forum describing the process as “awesome” and others saying it was a “hassle”.
One user praised the hotline earlier this year for answering tax queries more quickly: “The awesome thing about calling PD1 is it’s the same [department] used by MPs and Royals so there is almost no wait time.”
In a post on the site from 2023, users discussed the benefits of Special Section D, a separate HMRC department similar to PD1 that deals with National Insurance queries for taxpayers, including those with a gender recognition certificate, who require special treatment.
One person said access to the service was an “awesome trans benefit” which “means you’re elevated to an elite team with a direct telephone number, that you can easily and simply reach with very little waiting time”.
Another said: “I was asked if I wanted the flag put on [my account], and I said no for the very reason that I felt that it would mean every time I had to contact them or had an issue to sort then it would be much harder for me. I feel it is less hassle to have [tax records] not on there.”
One post discussed the shorter waiting times to speak to an HMRC adviser compared to the ordinary helpline.
The user said: “My coworker needed to call HMRC about some simple query. Spent two hours waiting, then their phone dropped out mid-conversation and they had to spend another two hours waiting before they resolved the issue.
“The next day I had to ring Special Section D to fix my tax code [with] maybe 30 seconds on hold, and it was done within three minutes of calling. Bliss.”
An HMRC spokesman said: “PD1 is not a ‘VIP service’ but a helpline for taxpayers whose records require greater protection and therefore can only be accessed by specialist staff. This can be for a number of reasons.
“Call wait times on our helplines for all customers now average around 10 minutes.”