As of March 2013 and despite technical issues, the HMRC website is to move from its current domain to a newly created gov.uk domain.The site had been piloted for testing last from late October 2012 and is at the brunt end of criticism from the accounting profession over the mistakes and errors the new site has presented and the costs involved in its creation.
Users are faced with technical issues where stored detail appeared to be located in the wrong areas of the site; it has also angered other users as the site had been requesting users to supply the wrong information.
On behalf of HMRC a spokesman stated:
“will migrate to the new gov.uk platform, in line with Cabinet Office requirements”.
This is true not only of HMRC but other government agencies that are also making the technological changes. These changes are brought about shifting incredibly large amounts of stored information, these processes are far from faultless and could potentially lead to information being lost or altered.
“The plan for these websites is for corporate content and most of the detailed guidance to be on gov.uk by March 2013”
Rosana Mirkovic of the ACCA raised the point that where accounting professionals may be able to identify errors because of their experience, members of the public would likely have great difficulty should such issues not be addressed at this early stage.
She said:
“It’s really disappointing to see this happen, when in principle the idea of reducing duplication and delivering savings is sound.”
“While accountants may find it easy to spot places where the guidance is weak or factually wrong, three-quarters of all SMEs in the UK don’t have a financially trained person in charge of their finances.”
“We’re confident that gov.uk will prove to be a great resource once this matter has been dealt with.”
So with the future changes it would seem that unless HMRC can address some clearly detrimental effect of the changes it intends to bring about the larger public, which it is serving, could end up even more frustrated when it comes to dealing with their taxes.
Small businesses simply cannot afford the luxury of having dedicated financially trained personnel and as HMRC is already busy tracking down those that fail to file taxes correctly it seems they could have even more work on their catch-up file if the new system fails to make life easier.
As always, If you need advice on these matters or if you have other issues that are causing your business some problem get in touch with us here at Forbes Burton and we can help address your business worries.
