The tax office is fielding 600 complaints a week as taxpayers are driven to their “wits end” by delays. HM Revenue & Customs received close to 34,000 individual complaints last year from taxpayers regarding delays in how quickly their financial affairs were dealt with. Despite officials at the tax authority dismissing almost 90pc of these complaints, it still upheld close to 4,500 – and paid out a total of £603,000 in compensation, figures obtained by The Telegraph show. It comes amid increasing concern over a drop in standards at the tax office, with MPs accusing senior management of allowing service levels to fall to an “all-time low”. HMRC caused a backlash last month after announcing plans to close its customer service phone line for six months of the year in a bid to push taxpayers online and divert staff to other areas of the tax office. It was forced into a U-turn following an intervention from the Chancellor, although Jim Harra, HMRC’s chief executive, has not ruled out reintroducing such a move. He told MPs of the Treasury Committee on Wednesday: “I am not saying we won’t return to this... it is part of our strategy and we do think it was effective last year [when...