Puff of smoke

KEY POINTS

• Advisers using SA Online should look at proprietary software
• Time-saving advantages of proprietary packages
• Table of providers and costs

If there is anything that tax advisers could learn about the failure of HMRC's SA Online system on 31 January 2008 it is that it would probably be a good idea to look at paying for proprietary software.

What was very clear on 31 January was that returns submitted online using third party software suffered no problems and went through easily.

Unrepresented taxpayers also have the choice of paying for software to do their return (if they prefer not to complete it by hand and submit it by 31 October) but as they usually have only one return to complete it is not unreasonable that many would rather use HMRC's free software.

It is quite adequate for...