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The HMRC website’s lack of clarity and contemporary material has again been highlighted.
Visitors have found that they are still being allowed to request the coding-out through PAYE of a 31 January 2009 self assessment tax liability of up to £2,000.
This has proved to be misleading for many taxpayers, because the deadline for taking the payment option was 30 December last year.
The Revenue said it is aware of the problem and is ‘urgently investigating’ - and taxpayers will not be able to make use of the PAYE code option still being offered.
The problem follows the launch in Taxation last week of Anne Redston’s cobweb campaign, which aims to compel HMRC to tidy up their out-of-date – and often misleading – online offering (which includes an announcment posted earlier this month: ‘The 31 October deadline for filing returns on paper has now passed’.)
Within 24 hours of publication of Anne’s article, the Revenue site promised that it 'will be making information… easier to find and understand’.
The department added: ‘The latest area to get a new look is capital gains tax.
‘The new pages give clear and practical guidance to help you understand capital gains tax. The content covers:
- when you might be liable to pay CGT
- step-by-step guides to working out your gain or loss
- what reliefs and exemptions are available
- when and how to tell HMRC that you have made a gain or loss.
‘Further topic areas to be improved in 2009 include charities and community amateur sports clubs, corporation tax, stamp duty, PAYE and more. Look out for further updates over the next few months.’
Readers can send suggestions of even more improvements to anne.redston@kcl.ac.uk.
