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30 Sep 2008
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is pressing on with its push to force taxpayers into filing VAT online by phasing out the pre-paid envelopes which are normally supplied.
‘This is unfortunate timing as HMRC’s recent data loss scandal is still fresh in everyone’s mind. You would think that they would be a bit more sensitive to taxpayers’ concerns before they tried to railroad them all into filing online,’ Malcolm Winston, UHY Hacker Young partner, told The Birmingham Post.
‘There are still quite a few personal and business taxpayers who either don’t have access to broadband or who are still very nervous about lodging sensitive financial information online.’
According to HMRC the phasing out of pre-paid envelopes followed the example of other private and public sector organisations but Winston said this was a strange comparison. ‘The customer gets to choose which company they deal with and have the right not to draw on public services,’ he said.
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Briefings
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Visitor comments Add your comment
Prepaid envelopes
HMRC ceased sending out prepaid envelopes years before they ceased to be known as HMIT. I think there is a confusion between prepaid and pre-addressed envelopes!
Posted by: Andrew Jackson, 30 Sep 2008 | 00:00
HMRC presses on with online filing of VAT
I trust that if this is seriously to be considered there is first a review of the registration process for online filing. It needs to work reliably before this can move on at all.
Posted by: Susan Gompels, 30 Sep 2008 | 00:00
There should be no assumption that online is the only solution
The comparison by HMRC is totally false and doesn't justify this move!
No private sector organisation forces all its customers to interact only via online. They encourage it however.
This is just cost-cutting and the HMRC clearly show they have absolutely no 'customer' focus
Posted by: Amit Vedhara, 01 Oct 2008 | 00:00
Does Online Filing force Online Payments?
I am a Trustee and Treasurer for a small national Charity. I have no problems with providing an envelope to continue with my paper VAT returns four times a year. However, if, as seems to be suggested by your article, paper returns will be phased out forcing online filing, then I would have a problem ... online filing currently requires online payments and that is something the charity is unable to process through its bank account.
Posted by: Martin Payne, 03 Oct 2008 | 00:00