Fiddling Whilst Rome Burns

Whilst tax professionals and taxpayers the length and breadth of Britain are scrambling to file their returns online, and overcome HMRC catastrophic systems crash earlier today that prevented them from submitting their online returns, it is reassuring to know that HMRC are taking their customer satisfaction very seriously.

You will recall that earlier this month I wrote about a fellow professional who was rung up by HMRC with an "urgent" customer satisfaction survey, HMRC wanted it done by the end of the month.

I am advised by the same chap that at 4.40pm today (31st January), as their firm's server was in meltdown trying to transmit the last few tax returns (now that the HMRC system is more or less back online), the HMRC Customer Satisfaction team ring them back again to ask them to take part in the same survey.

Naturally HMRC were told to piss off.

What planet do HMRC live on?

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HMRC Site Crashes Update

The latest from the BBC says that HMRC have graciously extended the deadline for submission of online returns to midnight tomorrow.

Thousands of taxpayers were facing an automatic £100 fine plus interest on any tax due if they missed the original midnight deadline.

HMRC now says no one who files their return before midnight on Friday will be penalised.

"HMRC's self assessment online filing service has experienced technical difficulties this morning which has meant that some tax payers have experienced difficulties filing on-line," said an HMRC spokesman.

He said the system is now rapidly returning to normal levels of service and HMRC very much regretted any inconvenience caused.

So that's alright then!

How about getting it right nest year then lads?

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HMRC Site Crashes

I am advised that the HMRC online filing system has crashed today.

I received the following note from a fellow professional:

"Just tried to log in to check a clients self assessment account – Service is unavailable – at noon on January 31st!!"

Well done lads!

They wonder why people don't have any faith in their IT system!

Update

Seemingly it's the taxpayers' fault for leaving it so late to file their returns!

That at least is the view of the HMRC "helpdesk" (see below).

Here is what the BBC have to say about it:

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed that its self assessment website is temporarily unavailable.

Tax payers have until midnight on Thursday to file their income tax returns, and pay any tax due, or they will have to pay a fine plus interest.

HMRC said it apologised "for any inconvenience caused", and added it was working to restore the service "as soon as possible".

More than 150,000 people filed their tax return on 31 January last year.

An HMRC spokesman confirmed the service had gone down "at some point on Thursday morning", although he could not say what had caused the problem.

"The self assessment online system is temporarily unavailable", he said.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused, and are working to restore the service as soon as possible."

The BBC has been deluged with complaints from taxpayers who have found themselves unable to log in to the system.

Edward Buxton from Nuneaton has spent the morning trying to file returns on behalf of himself and his wife.

"I first logged in at about 9.00 this morning, after the school run - I must have kept pressing refresh for about an hour; then I gave up," he said.

"I have been trying on and off since. Once I got a message from HMRC saying that they are aware of the problem. but most of the time the message just says something along the lines of 'the server has no idea what the page is you are trying to access'.

"That doesn't give you great confidence," he added.

Chris Kirby is an accountant based in Redcar in North Yorkshire.

He is trying to file returns on behalf of six clients.

He said the problem first arose at about 4pm on Wednesday afternoon, after which the website "pretty much crashed".

He has not managed to get onto the system since. He said that when he first contacted the helpline, they denied anything was wrong.

Eventually staff told him the problem was down to "too many people trying to log on".

"One person on the helpline was quite rude, and said 'It's your own fault for leaving it to the last minute'," he said.

But it is not uncommon for clients to find they cannot submit their information until just before the deadline, he said, and he believed HMRC should be able to cope.

"They should have had not just sufficient capacity but spare capacity to deal with the peaks they should have known they were likely to get today," he said.

His clients now faced the automatic £100 fine for non-submission which he would then have to appeal on their behalf.

"Really, it's just not good enough for a public body," he added.

Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of tax at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), said HMRC should consider pushing back the cut off point.

"If the Revenue's IT systems have crashed, then they need to extend the deadline. They need to be pragmatic."

If the problem continued for a few hours, he said the deadline should be pushed to Monday.

He said this would encourage people to use the online system in future years.



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Duchy Originals

Following on from my earlier article about HMRC's security protocols preventing "special people" (MPs, celebs and royals) from filing their tax returns on line (seemingly HMRC do not feel that the IT system is secure enough for such high profile individuals), I have been advised that this special status also appears to apply to anyone who works for the Royal Family.

That would include, for example, the staff employed by the Duchy of Cornwall (98 as per the 2007 accounts).

Add in all other royal staff at the numerous palaces, castles etc and you come up with a reasonably large number of people.

Given that the data will have to be manually input into a special secure area, does this not represent quite a large amount of unnecessary extra work for the already overworked HMRC staff at the "coal face"?

Wouldn't it be better to simply improve the IT systems, and ensure that they offer all citizens the same level of security?

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Big Brother

There is something of a right old fracas brewing over the secret contract that gives government officials access to detailed records of 16 million houses and property sales. This contract is due to expire in March, and will be up for renewal.

The contract is between the government and Rightmove, the online property search firm, and it gives HMRC staff access to its records of transactions.

Needless to say these records contain details such as sale prices of properties, their internal features and any modifications that would enhance their value.

Why would HMRC be interested, or indeed need to know this this information?

Council tax!

The details gleaned by HMRC will be used by the government to increase council tax. This most hated and iniquitous tax is already being raised again this year by more than inflation. We can be certain that as the government becomes ever larger and more greedy, it will need to find further ways to fund its existence.

The contract between HMRC's Valuation Office Agency and Rightmove, states that Rightmove is bound by the Official Secrets Act and all its staff must sign a confidentiality agreement.

Rightmove keeps data on 16 million properties, and added 3.3 million records to its files in December.

Eric Pickles MP, the Tory shadow secretary of state for local government, said:

"The public will be alarmed that detailed information on 9 out of 10 house sales and rentals are secretly being passed from estate agents to tax spies without the public's knowledge or agreement. This is a shocking sign of the growing surveillance state under Gordon Brown."

The government claims that the contract was simply part of its efforts to keep records up to date.

They would say that wouldn't they?

The solution for the taxpayers of Britain is to boycott Rightmove. That will kill off this contract pdq.

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The Dog's Dinner

HMRC, and its masters in the government, are facing a backlash from tax professionals about the draft legislation on tax hikes for non-domiciles.

Mike Warburton, Grant Thornton senior tax partner, made a succinct point describing the arrangements for non-doms as a "dog's dinner".

He noted that US bankers, who make up a large proportion of those who claim non-dom status, would face a doubling of their tax liabilities under the new rules.

Needless to say this would mean that many would consider moving elsewhere, with a consequent diminution in tax take and reduction in economic contribution to the UK economy.

In other words, the new rules would be detrimental to the UK.

Taxation and the HMRC should not be used as a tool of politicians to satisfy their own personal prejudices. Taxation and the HMRC should only be used to collect revenue necessary to fund approved government expenditure.

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