A changing society
The PAYE system, for example, was designed for the world of work of the
1940s, when most people finished their formal education in adolescence
and often stayed with one employer for the next forty years. On retirement
they would draw a state pension that was below the tax thresholds.
The world today is very different:
Dealing with a very different ‘market’ is only part of the challenge, for customers expect a much higher level of service than previously. Recognising this, the Government wants public services to match the best standards in the private sector, with many being available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. The expectation is that Government services will increasingly be designed to suit the needs of the citizen rather than the convenience of administrators.
The impact of technology
Electronic systems will increasingly be used to improve and complement
the business of assessing and collecting taxes. The Prime Minister has
set a target that - within five years - a quarter of all transactions
with Government should be capable of being carried out electronically,
through computers, telephone and televisions.
One of the Inland Revenue’s visions is a world where taxpayers are supported by Customer Service Centres where they can get immediate answers to most tax - and other - problems by telephone, e-mail or Internet. The Centres would support local outlets focused on customer service, perhaps grouped with other central and local government agencies. Inland Revenue processes will be designed to suit the customer, rather than the Inland Revenue trying to fit customers to its requirements.
The vision of this adaptable, customer-focused organisation will also include Compliance Centres - centralising expertise in difficult areas of tax and being proactive in supporting customers. These Centres would recognise that much non-compliance stems from difficulty with the law and procedures, rather than from wilful evasion.
‘Intelligent’ forms - prompting for entries, checking the sums and taking users through the boxes -will be available on the Internet and intranet.
A wider role for the Inland Revenue
Early next century, two hundred years of tax legislation will have been
largely rewritten to make it clearer and simpler. The Inland Revenue will
be more automated and more efficient.
As well as dealing with income tax and other direct taxes, it will also administer Working Families Tax Credits, monitor the national minimum wage, collect student loans and work more closely with Customs and Excise. It will have begun to align the rules and procedures for tax and national insurance contributions following the transfer of the Contributions Agency from the Department of Social Security. It is likely to play a part in the Government’s ‘work-focused gateway’ into the benefits system, transforming Inland Revenue’s job from just gathering direct taxes and contributions (and stamp duty) to having a role in a wider policy of social inclusion.
| It’s a Sunday afternoon in 2005. Anne Jones is on a high-speed train journey but she’s bored. She’s read the newspapers, and surfed the net from her third-generation mobile phone. So why not do something useful? She calls up her home computer and downloads her accounts into the phone’s memory, and then downloads her tax return from the Inland Revenue. Most of the details are filled in automatically - she just has to agree with each entry when prompted. But there is a query about payments on her student loan that she needs help with. She could e-mail her query or use the phone to contact a Call Centre. But she decides to use the phone’s camera to video conference with Inland Revenue staff. Robert in the Call Centre is pleased to help. He automatically got her record on screen when she clicked on the ‘Call Me’ icon on the Government’s Web pages, and he guides her through the problem. The form is soon completed in the background as Robert talks her through some questions and answers, and she signs to confirm by swiping her multi-purpose smart card through the reader. As it happens, Anne was due a repayment. Later in her journey she sees there is an incoming message notifying her of the amount, and confirming that it has been paid into her bank |
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