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New SA forms and online facilities take Carter programme forward
After the dramatic announcements and ambitious claims about efiling in recent budgets, the 2008-09 tax year will be quieter, but will still see incremental steps towards Lord Carter's asipiration of universal online filing for businesses and IT literate individuals by 2012.'Progress on HMRC’s plans to improve the SME customer experience', a report published in HMRC's package of supplementary budget documents, catalogued some minor advances over the past year, including new online mechanisms for filing Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) returns; Capital Gains Tax (CGT) Self Assessment pages; Construction Industry Scheme returns; and Pensions Scheme returns.
New format SA forms
The Carter progress report also looked forward to changes to forms and returns coming in from April that are estimated will reduce the administrative burden on business by £56m. The claimed savings will be met by snorts of derision from software companies that had to rewrite their programs during the past year and will no doubt provoke howls of anguish from practitioners and taxpayers when they start to grapple with the new forms in April. But as both the HMRC document and Carter programme official Nigel Henshaw made clear in a presentation to Digita's user conference on the day after the budget, the HMRC machinery is taking note of user feedback and working hard to improve the quality of the online tax experience.
"We have continued to invest heavily in our online infrastructure and customer support to underpin the drive for greater take-up of our online services," the report noted.
Details of the changes and copies of the new self assessment returns can be downloaded from the HMRC website. Designed to be easier to understand and complete, the SA return is shorter and clearer, with simpler text and larger fonts. Alongside the new main return, new Self Employment pages will be used that contain fewer boxes. For those with annual turnovers less than £64,000, the Self Employement return will take up just two A4 sides, Henshaw said. Capital gains tax and some foreign income pages will appear online after 6 April.
In a move to reduce the burden on self employed taxpayers, the minumum threshold which under which they can file three-line accounts (total turnover - total expenses = net profit) has been raised from £15,000 to £30,000.
For those using HMRC's online software, the boxes on the 2007-08 return containing pension details, date of birth, underpayments brought forward and the state pension and student load indicators will be prepopulated with what should be the correct information. Agents will be able to change any of the details that are wrong, and will also be able to amend other details in the return - including the taxpayer's name.
Better support for agents
In recent months, HMRC officials have been out on the road, meeting accountants to explain the Carter programme changes and to get their feedback. One of the most common complaints, according to Nigel Henshaw was that staff on the SA helplines don't understand what the issues are. In response, the department has set up a dedicated agent priority helpline, where advisers can get through to more experienced staff. The contact numbers are listed on HMRC's Practitioner pages.
In a related pilot scheme HMRC has appointed customer relationship managers (CRMs) in six areas. "Agents are saying that they used to have someone they could speak to in the local office," said Henshaw. If the scheme is rolled out to the whole country, he said, "There will be someone at inspector grade you can take your problems to."
One of the things the CRMs will try to do is identify any problems that agents are experiencing with HMRC service levels so that the department can address them more quickly. Both the CRM and dedicated agent help lines will be evaluated in conjunction with agents over the next few months, the Carter progress report said.
Electronic payment mechanisms
HMRC's recent introduction of direct debit and electronic payment options are estimated to reduce the administrative burden by £15-20m, the report also claimed. The options now include internet banking and telephone banking payments, BACS, CHAPS, direct debit and giros. Taxpayers can use debit cards at HMRC's BillPay page. Agents' requests for a credit card facility are being considered, Henshaw said.
Enhancements to SA Online website
After the frustrations of 31 January, agents will be relieved to hear that April will see "significant improvements" and technical work to improve the performance of the SA Online portal. The site's content is also being redesigned to make it simpler and easier to use. Improvements to the search engine are scheduled for the middle of the year, as is the addition of a "find a form" tool.
The content overhaul is part of a larger process recommended by former chairman Sir David Varney's efficiency review, which will see HMRC's "customer-facing" content shifted to the Directgov and businesslink.gov.uk sites between 2008 and 2011.
As a first step, the International Trade Single Window hosted on the Business Link site is being expanded with a free expert service for the more experienced international traders (replacing a £250 subscription fee). An e-mail alert service will also be available to update businesses when new information appears.
Number of comments: 2
AccountingWEB.co.uk 14-Mar-2008
Categories: IT News, Tax News, Software
Times read: 4683
I look forward to the April SA Online upgrade.
We have been without online access to our SA clients since 6 February following the last upgrade so anything has to be an improvement. However it is quite likely that they will mess with PAYE online just in time for the end-of-year filing.
Call me cynical?
I am indeed 'relieved to hear that April will see "significant improvements" and technical work to improve the performance of the SA Online portal.'
Forgive me if I change my name to Thomas.
