As Mrs Doyle urges us to file our tax returns online, Computer
Weekly readers pass verdict on the system. Karl Cushing reports
Few people that tried to fill in their tax returns online over the
past 12 months will have been surprised by the Inland Revenue's
decision to use Mrs Doyle, the tea lady from the Channel 4 comedy
Father Ted, to boost public awareness of its revamped Internet
service.
Judging from the flood of correspondence that our recent article on
the subject elicited, the online tax return system has been a
comedy of errors since its debut in the tax year 1999-2000.
The fun started in June 2000, when the introduction of online
filing by the Revenue's IT outsourcer EDS was delayed because of
problems with data capture software in local offices. Revenue staff
were later to be seen printing off returns filed online and
re-keying the data into existing systems in a low-tech practice
dubbed "swivel-chair technology" by analyst firm Gartner.
Of the 128,603 people who originally expressed an interest in using
the online filing system, only 39,284 had managed to file their
returns electronically by 2 April 2001. Considering the Revenue's
public awareness campaign to target the 9.1 million people who are
eligible for self-assessment in the UK, this figure was hardly
impressive.
Over two-thirds of those who attempted to file tax returns online
abandoned the experience before finishing. Some even printed off a
hard copy of their Web return to send to the Revenue through the
post. The Inland Revenue describes the events of last year as "a
learning curve" and says it expects more people to take advantage
of the electronic form in 2000-2001. But for those of you who are
reluctant to be the taxman's guinea pigs, there is one piece of
good news.
Several readers wrote to point out that they had been able to
revert to submitting their tax returns on paper forms. So you won't
necessarily find yourself "locked-in" to the online system. "Hector
is still pretty clueless when it comes to IT," says reader Stuart
France, referring to the cartoon character that was the face of the
Revenue before Mrs Doyle.
France contacted Computer Weekly after receiving the Employers'
CD-Rom for 2001. It was not just the colour of the CD - "garnished
with the new Inland Revenue corporate colour of vomit green" - that
left him feeling a little queasy. Although the CD contains all the
necessary forms, "The P11D form is useless because it has £0.00
pre-printed in some of the boxes that wouldn't be zero in
practice," says France. "The P14/P60 forms are similarly completed
as examples only."
The fact that the Revenue keeps subtly changing the layout of these
forms defeats any in-house attempts to automate the filling-in
process, he complains. France urges the Revenue to adopt XML and
get people to return a file of pure text containing tagged fields
instead of using precise form layouts with loads of boxes to fill
in.
David Fleetwood says, "The article in Computer Weekly on 3 May rang
so true for me. I was one of the 128,603 who registered, but failed
to get into that more elite group who managed to find the secret
passage through the Inland Revenue version of the tomb of despair."
After the inevitable delays in getting a password out of the
Revenue, the magic roundabout was finally set in motion. "Round and
round I went, but I could not find a way to get the Web site to
accept my return. Time and time again I came back to the same
screen," says Fleetwood. "In the end I had to join the ranks of the
defeated, print off the return and send it by post."
If an IT professional has such problems with the process, what
chance do the less IT-literate members of the public have?
Fleetwood asks. "I was forced to conclude that it is time there was
a serious, technically qualified and thorough investigation into
the management of the Inland Revenue and in particular into the IT
management," he adds.
If the Revenue's system doesn't stand up to close inspection in
isolation, it fares even worse when compared to the systems used in
other countries. Ian Lee recently filed tax returns electronically
for both US Federal and Massachusetts State as a "non-resident,
part-year alien" UK citizen. He found the process was like a walk
in the park compared to his experiences in the UK.
"I reckon I was online (via my UK ISP) for about 20 minutes, which
included time spent trying to decipher the US tax language," he
says. One major benefit of the US system is that basic services are
provided free by a number of commercial tax "preparers". And if
your needs are complex, or you cannot understand the system, you
are able to choose from a variety of payable services, including
e-mail support, telephone call centre help or an office visit. "You
pay your money and you take your choice," says Lee.
Ian Cherry was one of the 39,284 people who persevered and
succeeded in submitting a tax return via the Internet last year. He
has also recently completed this year's version of the form. But
this remarkable success required dogged determination in the face
of adversity. Cherry's user ID and password arrived later than
expected. And the CD containing the software arrived "many weeks
later than expected".
This year was similarly fraught with complications and mishaps.
When Cherry was prompted to call the Revenue to complain,
threatening to revert to paper next year, he was met with the
reply, "I don't blame you - we have had lots of complaints about
this." But perseverance paid off and after a total of three hours
online he completed his return.
"Finding the right Inland Revenue online booklets to assist was
very frustrating as they are slow to download and some I looked at
were out-of-date," says Cherry. "Will I use the online system again
next year? No chance, unless it changes for the better."
Some people had to wait eight weeks to receive their user password,
but Erica Hollis is still waiting for hers a year later. After
applying to file online last year Hollis received an e-mail to say
that there was a delay but that she would be hearing from the
Revenue in due course. She is still waiting. As she was expecting a
rebate she gave up on the online system and filed manually.
Another event has also damaged Hollis's confidence in the Revenue.
She recently informed the tax office that her surname had changed.
Inevitably, it sent out her return under her previous name. "I
shall be filing manually again this year," she says.
Mike Howard is another IT professional who will be reverting to the
paper form this year. His efforts to file electronically last year
proved fruitless and eventually he was forced to print out his Web
return and file on paper.
Howard blames the free Microsoft software provided by the Revenue.
It couldn't compile a return that was acceptable to the Revenue's
computer. "My affairs were not complicated. At the end of the day,
the problem was judged to be that the Microsoft software just
couldn't perform the basic calculations," he explains.
Ironically, Howard did manage to file his wife's tax return
electronically - despite the fact that it was significantly more
complex than his. As for the significant time it takes to download
the requisite software, Howard suggests that the Revenue could
solve the problem by burning the information onto a CD-Rom and
posting it out with the rest of the paperwork in early April. The
CD software could even be distributed free with computer magazines,
he suggests.
David Lunn also experienced problems caused by inconsistencies
between what the PC software expected and what the online filing
software would accept. But he did manage to file both his own and
his wife's tax returns online after several attempts.
Lunn had to describe his wife's marital status as "single" because
the software would not accept that she was married but not claiming
the married person's tax allowance. When he telephoned the Revenue,
Lunn was told that he had to delete the information he had put in
the "any further information" box on his form as "no-one reads it
anyway" and it was preventing the online filing from working. He
will not be filing returns electronically this year.
Martin Kennedy's decision to file his tax form online last year
resulted in a real story of riches to rags. Kennedy received an
added extra in the software used to calculate his tax code in the
shape of a bug. He was duly informed that a fairly hefty tax rebate
would be heading his way due to a perceived overpayment. And a few
weeks later a cheque from the Inland Revenue landed on his
doormat.
After much deliberation, Kennedy decided to spend his unexpected
windfall on a family holiday. But, to his horror, another letter
arrived from the Inland Revenue a few weeks later informing him
that the amount had been miscalculated and asking for the money
back. Unfortunately, by this time the money had been spent.
"Needless to say, when I received the notice to complete a tax
return this year I immediately phoned the Inland Revenue and
ordered my paper copy of the form," says Kennedy. A clear case of
once bitten, twice shy.
"This year's [2000-2001] online tax return is hopeless," fumes
Richard Tomlinson. "There is no way I am going to fill in the form
while connected to the Internet - the security is probably worse,
it costs money and I am more likely to lose what I have typed in if
the system goes down. I don't think the IT people in the Inland
Revenue have a clue about the realities of the Internet and how
people use it."
But not all of the responses were negative. David Jupe, who used
the free Microsoft tax software for his wife's tax return last
year, found it "reasonably easy to use". However, he has reverted
to the paper system this year due to the lack of availability of
the free software on CD-Rom.
Chris Lundie also found the process of filing his return online
"quite simple and straightforward". He says, "The forms were easy
to complete and I received confirmation fairly quickly that they
had been processed, in the form of an updated tax code. I have
started the process of completing my return for 2000-2001 online
and, unless I have a bad experience, will continue to do so in
future years."
But by far the most radical suggestion comes from Henry Law.
"Abolish the whole wretched system," says Law. "It belongs to a
bygone age." Income tax has no place in the modern economy, he
says, with "footloose workers, short-term contracts, consultants
working for numerous clients and the spread of e-business".
Instead, Law advocates a system of land value taxation. "Land
cannot be moved, hidden, shifted to a tax haven or lost in
cyberspace," he says. However, the Revenue could still lose the
paperwork.