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HMRC are introducing a facility to digitally scan items of post relating to taxpayers’ returns.
The material will be assigned to cases by using electronic document management systems, and mail will be scanned in accordance with BSI DISC PD0008, the British Standard document Legal Admissibility and Evidential Weight of Information Stored Electronically.
Scanning will be introduced throughout 2011/12 in phases, the first of which will begin next month.
A single PO box address will be used to identify the mail that is part of this process. This address will be included in outgoing correspondence, along with a reference code that the taxpayer must use when replying. It will be prefixed by CFS, CFSS, or CFSC.
Advisers who wish to send replies for more than one client in the same envelope should separate the documentation with individual covering letters, ensuring the case reference is clearly stated.
When HMRC receive taxpayers’ correspondence, they will scan and link it to the relevant case, usually within 36 hours of receipt.
Some original documents will be returned to taxpayers as matter of course after they have been scanned. These include P60s, birth, death and marriage certificates, and passports.
The Revenue asks that it is made clear when other supporting documents should be returned because documents that are not returned will be securely destroyed, together with any covering letter, within 40 days of receipt.
According to the department, the benefit of scanning is that it will ensure documents get to the relevant caseworker as quickly as possible, avoiding the need for manual distribution of letters and documents.
Caseworkers will be able to handle calls about the case without the delay of locating original paper copies.
