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Online accounts could be the solution, survey finds
Employees are not engaged enough with their personal tax affairs, according to an HMRC survey aimed at understanding taxpayers’ experience of the PAYE process.
Research by the department found most PAYE workers typically see tax as something dealt with by their employer or pension provider, because sums are deducted at source. People do not generally recognise their role in managing their own tax, and feel it is some other party’s responsibility even when they have faced a problem.
Individual taxpayers’ knowledge of how tax works is limited, the Revenue learned, with few fully understanding how their tax is calculated, what would make it change, and how it would change.
Of greater interest to respondents was the possibility of an online tax account, which was welcomed for the reassurance of easy access to personal information. Those surveyed had a clear idea of what they wanted from an online, with priorities including education about tax and how it works, a facility to check personal details, and the opportunity to interact with the taxman.
HMRC concluded from their research that online accounts have the potential to make a positive change, helping to create transparency in the personal tax system and encourage employees take responsibility for their own affairs.
