Let's work together

KEY POINTS

• The Carter Programme and its 'state of play'.
• The online tax return and new deadlines.
• Working together with agents.
• New developments.
• Improving communication.

I recently met Stephen Banyard director of HMRC's Business Customer Unit. His overall remit is to better understand HMRC's customers and to use that understanding to improve the department's services and his particular responsibility is for agents and SMEs (i.e. the small and medium-sized enterprises — both agents and their clients who probably comprise the core readership of Taxation).

Stephen is also responsible for the Carter Programme and this is what he first wanted to talk about.

He explained that the programme is just coming up to its second major public milestone on 31 October 2008 with the new paper filing deadline for self assessment. This is...