Data security concerns are likely to thwart any attempt to ‘push’ all tax communication online, a tax expert has warned. ‘Although doing all your tax paperwork online looks set to become the default option, it should never become the only option,’ said Patrick Harrison, Tax Partner with PKF.
Harrison was responding to two consultation documents setting out HMRC’s proposals to make online the ‘default channel’ for tax information by 2013.
‘Pushing all tax communication online may save money for HMRC but making it mandatory would spark opposition from those who worry about data security – hardly a strong point for the tax authorities in recent years,’ Harrison said.
A ‘give and take’ approach – offering payment holidays or deferral to start-ups registering online within a set time limit – would work better, he suggested.
One-click registration
The coalition’s programme for government published in May 2010 said: ‘We will reduce the number of forms needed to register a new business, and move towards a “one-click” registration model.’
Take up rates of online services are ‘as good as, or better than predicted’ and have allowed customers to file online reliably and ‘largely without problems’, according to HMRC’s consultation document Digital by Default.
Mandation of corporation tax online filing from April 2011 has been successful, HMRC said, and 99.9% of businesses mandated to file VAT returns online from April 2010 did so. Between 75% and 80% of income tax self assessment returns are filed online.
The department said making quality online services the default option will lead to services being ‘both more convenient and cheaper, and better and more personalised’.
From April 2012 businesses will be able to use a single, interactive Registration Wizard to register for ‘multiple taxes’. Registration Wizard will be the ‘default option’ during 2013.
Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said in November 2010 that ‘every single government service must be available to everyone – no matter if they are online or not’. HMRC said in Digital by Default that groups less able to access the internet ‘will not be left behind’. The consultation seeks views on the best way to provide cost effective support and assistance to such groups.
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Data security concerns are likely to thwart any attempt to ‘push’ all tax communication online, a tax expert has warned. ‘Although doing all your tax paperwork online looks set to become the default option, it should never become the only option,’ said Patrick Harrison, Tax Partner with PKF.
Harrison was responding to two consultation documents setting out HMRC’s proposals to make online the ‘default channel’ for tax information by 2013.
‘Pushing all tax communication online may save money for HMRC but making it mandatory would spark opposition from those who worry about data security – hardly a strong point for the tax authorities in recent years,’ Harrison said.
A ‘give and take’ approach – offering payment holidays or deferral to start-ups registering online within a set time limit – would work better, he suggested.
One-click registration
The coalition’s programme for government published in May 2010 said: ‘We will reduce the number of forms needed to register a new business, and move towards a “one-click” registration model.’
Take up rates of online services are ‘as good as, or better than predicted’ and have allowed customers to file online reliably and ‘largely without problems’, according to HMRC’s consultation document Digital by Default.
Mandation of corporation tax online filing from April 2011 has been successful, HMRC said, and 99.9% of businesses mandated to file VAT returns online from April 2010 did so. Between 75% and 80% of income tax self assessment returns are filed online.
The department said making quality online services the default option will lead to services being ‘both more convenient and cheaper, and better and more personalised’.
From April 2012 businesses will be able to use a single, interactive Registration Wizard to register for ‘multiple taxes’. Registration Wizard will be the ‘default option’ during 2013.
Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said in November 2010 that ‘every single government service must be available to everyone – no matter if they are online or not’. HMRC said in Digital by Default that groups less able to access the internet ‘will not be left behind’. The consultation seeks views on the best way to provide cost effective support and assistance to such groups.
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