Inland Revenue offers bonus to 'increase efficiency through IT'

The Inland Revenue has announced that it will offer small businesses a £50 bonus for filling in tax returns electronically. Small businesses, some of which are in line to be hit by IR35, are also being offered the opportunity to claim a £50 bonus when they pay employees' Family Tax Credits.

The Inland Revenue's latest initiative to drive businesses' tax returns online will offer the two bonuses for one year only. In order to successfully qualify for either bonus, companies must use a complying online payroll system to make at least one payment to the IR electronically by the end of the tax year. The IR will then credit the PAYE account of the company filing its tax return online.

John Rutherford, Managing Director at staffpay.net, one of the companies offering the e-filing scheme, commented, "Staffpay.net was the first internet payroll, and was developed in close co-ordination with Inland Revenue guidelines. Staffpay is aimed specifically at small businesses particularly burdened with legislation. The application has been designed to take care of the legislative side as well as IT and processing. The user needs to know only the bare minimum of legislation."

In response to UKTECH's inquiry of whether the Inland Revenue considered it ironic they were working with e-filing companies to ease the burden put on small businesses by their own legislation, IR Spokesman Robin Harris issued the following statement:

"The Government recognise, and are committed to doing as much as possible, to keep regulatory burdens to a minimum and where possible to reduce them. The March 2000 Budget encouraged small businesses to make more use of IT to increase their efficiency and cut their costs. Discounts for e-filing and money for training and advice are all part of this process."

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Richard Powell