Revenue debut for Mrs Doyle
Last night saw the premier of the Inland Revenue's brand new self-assessment advertising campaign starring Mrs Doyle, the downtrodden tea lady from hit TV series Father Ted.
AccountancyAge.com broke the news on Friday that Mrs Doyle will be the new face of self-assessment taking over from Hector, the bowler hat-clad tax inspector, who had been in service for five years until he was retired in January.
Mrs Doyle, who kept Father Ted supplied with endless tea and cake, will promote self-assessment using her now famous catchphrase: ‘Aw, go on, go on, go on.’ She has adapted the phrase in a seperate ad for the Revenue’s internet service, saying: ‘Aw, go on, go on, go online.’
The campaign, produced by ad agency D’Arcy Masius Benton Bowles, will concentrate on getting people to submit their self-assessment forms by 30 September so the Revenue can do the calculation.
Dawn Primarolo, the paymaster general, explained the focus had moved to the September date because the final 31 January deadline was too far away for many people to remember.
Around 10% of those who receive self-assessment forms submit them late. Of the nine million people who get the forms, around 4.3 million return them by the September deadline while 8.3 million get them in by the end of January.Primarolo denied that too many people were currently required to make their tax returns via self-assessment.
‘The National Audit Office report demonstrates it is an extremely efficient way of collecting taxes,’ she said.
Nick Montagu, chairman of the Revenue board, added that the department had procedures underway which reviewed whether some people should be self assessed.Mrs Doyle is an interim measure for the Revenue while it considers a bigger strategic campaign with ad agency M&C Saatchi.
Links
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