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But the interim has been five years of very backwards progress...
By silicon.com
Published: 31 July 2003 12:04 BST
31.07.98Electronic tax assessment has finally been a success according to the Inland Revenue. Twelve thousand self-assessment forms were filed this year compared to only 864 for the same period last year.
Jane Ashton, Inland Revenue spokeswoman, told Silicon News: "We honestly believe we have reached 100 per cent efficiency." The service, managed by EDS, acknowledges tax filings the next day and offers free modems as an incentive to accountants.
"There is no need to re-type the forms, because they are transferred electronically," Ashton said. "Tax returns are so much quicker and more accurate this way."
31.07.03Given that the Inland Revenue was claiming "100 per cent efficiency" five years ago, you have to ask 'what went wrong?'
Has the IR really taken so many retrograde steps over the past five years that we ended up with the problems we've seen in recent years?
Last year, headlines in this area were dominated by the failure of the self-assessment systems, and if anything the IR's online strategy seems to be going from bad to worse.
Following last year's debacle, Edward Leigh, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee said: "Potential users of the Inland Revenue's e-services will not be encouraged to make the switch to submit their tax returns electronically in the light of the well-publicised difficulties of using services and concerns over system security." And that was one of the kinder comments we saw.
There is still a lot of work to do. Perhaps in another five years it may all be in better health. We'll keep you posted.
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