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HM Revenue & Customs have released a
statement confirming that there are scenarios where an Individual's
Self Assessment Tax return cannot be filed online due to
issues with the HMRC online filing system. HMRC places these
on what is referred to as the Exclusions List.
In a statement, HM Revenue & Customs have
confirmed that they are committed to helping customers file
tax returns online and consequently will review the scenarios that appear on the Exclusions List introducing
'workarounds' wherever possible. Once a 'workaround' has been introduced HMRC would usually remove the scenario from the Exclusions List and place it with details of the workaround on the Specials List. Wherever possible, if these workarounds are issued in time for us
to accommodate them within the software developer schedule and if
necessary we will make necessary coding changes to
include these workarounds in
our self assessment software or provide a method for
entering data to work around the issues with HMRC online
filing system.
The April 2008 release for Self Assessment was
unprecedented with large and complex changes to the self
assessment forms and the underlying HMRC online filing
system. HMRC acknowledge that
"coding changes, to include workarounds, cannot always be
accommodated by Software Developers, not least because of
the need for testing".
In recognition of the fact that we, as software developers,
have to change the coding and thoroughly test the
amendments, HMRC will not add further scenarios to the
Specials List for the 2007-08 return. And all the additions
that were placed on the Specials List after 5 April 2008
will be moved to the Exclusions List. For completeness HMRC
will still show the workarounds for those customers who are
prepared to apply the manual workaround and for Software
Developers who may be able to code in some further
workarounds later in the year.
The
Exclusions List and the
Specials List are primarily intended to allow us to
include the workarounds into our software. However, these
lists may
also be of interest to our customers who may be able to use
a workaround manually where it has not been automated within
our self assessment tax returns software. Customers are
advised to review the FAQ
section of the website for latest information on known
issues.
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