Recent figures in connection with self assessment tax returns have suggested that almost 30% of returns have underdeclared liabilities, 11% of which were for more than £1,000 each.
The suggestion behind the article was that many of the problems at HMRC are due to successive government’s reluctance over many years to adequately fund a sophisticated IT infrastructure to ensure the systems in place minimise error and generally work correctly.
With the likelihood of a significant reduction in the headcount at HMRC over the coming months and years, and with morale at an all time low, one has to wonder how the creaking IT systems currently in place are going to be able to deal with the many problems that have surfaced recently.