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Technical difficulties
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Accountants grapple with online services downtime

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13th Apr 2017
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With HMRC online services crashing and planned Companies House Easter downtime, accountants have been left waiting to file online.

Earlier this week, accountants voiced frustration with HMRC online services after technical difficulties at the start of April had prevented taxpayers and agents alike from filing tax returns.

AccountingWEB regular Kevin Ringer first reported the technical issues on 6 April which affected the 2017 tax return part of HMRC’s website. Although HMRC fixed the issues later that morning, by 10 April all online services were down.

Commenting on the technical hitches hitting HMRC, Ringer said: “Online services have only been working one ‘working’ day in 3 this tax year. HMRC doesn't usually have these problems at the start of the tax year.”

Ringer was not alone in experiencing technical difficulties. Numerous Any Answers threads and comments reported the online services downtime.

“I've been waiting for it to free up,” said SteLacca. “Second time since the start of the tax year of longer than 'a few minutes' outage. If they can't keep their systems going for four days at a time without them being down for half of it, heaven help them in the future.”

Waiting for the difficulties to smooth over, AccountingWEB member Steve RA vented: “I need to submit 2 tax returns today so that clients who have been super organised and presented all figures nice and early can continue mortgage applications and a student loan application.

“The student loan asks for details, backed by copy of online submitted tax return by 23 April. Quite a tall order at this rate!"

An HMRC spokesperson confirmed to AccountingWEB that a number of customers experienced longer than usual wait times to log into their account, but assured that the issue had been rectified and all services are now running as normal.

AccountingWEB member tbk speculated that the technical issues could have been attributed to the system updates HMRC usually applies on 5 April.

Companies House maintenance

HMRC is not the only government department to experience online services downtime. Companies House will use the Easter weekend to undertake planned system maintenance. This means that most of its online services will be unavailable from 11:59pm on Thursday 13 April and will return 7am on Tuesday 18 April.

The maintenance affects WebFiling, XML gateway, WebCHeck, Companies House Direct.

Those planning on using the Easter break to catch up on client work will be unable to file any information with Companies House – in particular AD01 on CHS - but the search functions will still be available during the maintenance period.

 

Have you been affected by any of the technical issues or system downtime during the start of April?

Replies (7)

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By Ben Alligin
13th Apr 2017 10:36

HMRC services are apparently running normally!! Which planet are they on? They are not running smoothly. Currently their 2016/17 software is still granting tax refunds on bank interest, the tax computation is showing a zero total even thought the full tax computation is showing a more accurate figure. The actual tax return produced on their software is being produced with no client name, address or UTR. So do I persuade the client to submit this rubbish to HMRC since they desperately require a current SA302 for a mortgage application. But if it is submitted with no name or UTR, how will an SA302 be generated and how will we be able to correct this return without the basic data encoded in it?

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Replying to Ben Alligin:
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By GW
13th Apr 2017 14:09

Ben, you are confusing "running normally" and "working properly" unfortunately this is normal for HMRC. SNAFU

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By SteveHa
13th Apr 2017 10:36

'An HMRC spokesperson confirmed to AccountingWEB that a number of customers experienced longer than usual wait times to log into their account'

Frankly, a completely bogus response from HMRC. A message saying "We are experiencing technical problems" is not a wait, it's a downright failure.

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By biff1001
13th Apr 2017 13:30

Whoever is in charge of HMRC IT systems needs sacking!!
This clearly demonstrates the folly of MTD when they cannot even maintain the current infrastructure!!
Makes me wish i had chosen a different career!!

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By gazzo5000
13th Apr 2017 15:18

Seems to be playing up even now. I keep having timed out messages when trying to submit a CIS return. Please check back later to see if it's been received. As if I haven't got better things to do!!

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By taxbakbristol
14th Apr 2017 02:47

Problems submitting a Final EPS yesterday.
System kept stating EPS being transmitted but I still do not know if it has been received or not.......
Inebriation in a alcohol plant springs to mind!

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scott kane
By ScottKuk
18th Apr 2017 11:34

There's no excuse for not having a fully functional and fully secure website in this day and age. HMRC should prioritise ensuring that all of their web properties utilise full SSL certification and HTTPS protocol to ensure users are met with the service they are paying handsomely (via taxation) for. Downtime on a modern website is unacceptable at this level.

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