Scottish firm slams PAYE filing systems

An ‘inefficient’ online tax return system has cost accounting firm Campbell
Dallas ‘valuable time and money’, it claimed today.

The firm has criticised HMRC after its filing systems caused huge delays when
it filed PAYEs online.

Staff said that at one point it took in excess of an hour per return to
upload, ‘freezing’ their computers.

‘It was taking our processors one-and-a-quarter hours to file one return, and
for the duration of this period their computer is locked up,’ said Bruce Wilson,
head of tax consultancy at Campbell Dallas.

‘This is hugely impractical and is costing us a considerable amount of money
through lost working hours.’

He also slammed HMRC’s recommendation to file outside of normal working hours
as ‘absurd’.

‘The majority of people sending tax returns online are businesses like ours
who naturally will want to do this during the working day.’

A HMRC spokesman said that filing had gone well, and feedback from filers
suggested the process had been ‘very smooth’.

However, HMRC apologised last week over problems following a problem with its
servers.