FSB calls for tax year date change

The Federation of Small Businesses has called for "common-sense changes" that would make administering the tax self-assessment scheme easier for everyone.

According to reports as the nation scrambles to meet this weekend’s tax self-assessment deadline up to one million taxpayers could miss the January 31 deadline and face an automatic fine of £100.

Mr Simon Sweetman of the FSB’s taxation unit said: “The FSB believes that the Inland Revenue and taxpayers would both benefit from anything that spreads the flow of tax returns more evenly throughout the year - particularly because the current deadline falls so soon after Christmas. One option would be for the self-employed to be allowed to file their tax returns within a year of their accounting date.

“Human nature being what it is more and more people are leaving filling in their tax return until the last two weeks before the deadline. The problem gets worse every year and the system is then clogged for months to come. It makes sense to me to allow different types of taxpayers to file their returns at different times of the year.”

Other changes proposed by the FSB include:

• A facility to pay income tax by direct debit in monthly installments
• A facility to pay over the Internet using a credit card
• A single point of contact in a local tax office

Last year only 325,000 out of nine million people filed their tax returns online and the FSB believes that the Inland Revenue should do all it can to encourage electronic filing.

The FSB also said that a single point of contact in a local tax office, rather than call centres, would assist people completing their returns.

The FSB, which offers a tax advice line to members, said they received around 10,000 calls last year.

The FSB is Britain's biggest business organisation with 185,000 members and over 4000 members in Northern Ireland.

The Federation exists to protect and promote the interests of the self-employed, and all those who run their own business.

(SP)