HMRC's e-filing software gaining ground

Third party software is taking a backseat compared to HMRC's own electronic filing offering according to the latest figures for self assessment, released by the tax office

The tax man managed to grad a much larger portion of the market from external software providers for electronic filing as more users opt for HMRC's own system compared to 2008 figures.

E-filing continues to increase in popularity with a record 5,759,006 accounts filed online compared with 3,743,949 filed in 2008.

Over 1.6m users submitted returns via HMRC while 4.1m chose third party offerings in 2009. Compared to 2008, which saw just 982,205 use HMRC systems and over 2.7m using third party software.

Dennis Keeling, business intelligence founder and former BASDA chief executive said: 'the majority of accountants prefer to use spreadsheets then they'll use the online filing.'

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