Workers at HM Revenue & Customs began voting today on whether to strike on 31 January, the self-assessment deadline.

The possibility of strike on the deadline has been put forward by the Public and Commercial Services Union in protest against planned job cuts in the department, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The department is looking to cut 12,500 posts by 2011, having achieved a similar number of cuts over the past three years.

Last year's strike saw more than 60% of staff vote in favour. The strike had little effect on last-minute tax filings.

'We employ some 83,000 people - down from 97,000 in 2005 - and there have been no compulsory redundancies in achieving this,' said an HMRC spokesman.

'We have told the department’s trade unions that we will continue to do everything we reasonably can to make sure this remains the case. We have invited the trade unions to talks and asked them to suspend their strike ballot whilst these talks take place.'

Further reading:

Visit the PCS online

Tax filing strike fear for 31 January