Comments on: Tax return system works, um, smoothly

By: Buster

Buster — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:07:15 +0000

My return was sent on the 3rd attempt. Impressed as last years it took over 30 clicks on the send button.
I started my return late April and gave up as the new layout kept freezing and logging me out. Glad this was fixed before the 31st Jan.

By: Matt C

Matt C — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:57:48 +0000

Perhaps the reason the site didn’t fall down this year is because so many of us were unable to log in and therefore were less burden on the old HMRC 486. The password I used to request my user ID this year flat refused to work once I came to activate my id. Perhaps a mistake recording said password on my account? I think not, but either way a call to the helpdesk should sort that out in a jiffy. Four calls a day for the last ten working days and I still haven’t been able to get through, just a recorded message that tells me “it’s a busy time of the day, call back some other time” (paraphrased) and then dial tone.

Genius.

By: MJ

MJ — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:03:24 +0000

Darien, you forget the audit role of the HMRC. If they ask you how much you got paid, and they ask the employer, they can check that they are the same. If different, then they can trigger an investigation…

By: Darien Graham-Smith

Darien Graham-Smith — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:55:53 +0000

The service worked well for me too, but there was one aspect that had me tearing out what little remains of my hair. About half-way through the process I came to a page that asked me to enter my employer’s PAYE code, along with details of tax withheld from my salary for 2007-8.

Surely HMRC already knows these details? I mean, they must know that they’ve been receiving money on my account; and I very much hope they have a record of where it came from. Is there some reason why they can’t pipe this information from their own database into the self-assessment process? It seems to me that doing so would simplify the public burden and reduce the scope for mistakes.

But, alas, it seems that’s magic too deep for HMRC. As a result of which, my online tax return ended up taking rather longer to complete than it should have. Which is to say, about five minutes of typing and just over an hour driving into the office to pick up my damned P60.

By: Greemble

Greemble — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:39:32 +0000

There is an old saying – “Good administration is invisible”

This saying works for IT industry as well as the office