Inland Revenue Offers Small Firms Tax-Free Sweetener For Filing Online
by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London
07 November 2003

The Inland Revenue is to offer the United Kingdom’s 1.5 million small firms a tax-free sum of up to £825 in a bid to encourage to file their company tax returns online, the IR announced earlier this week.

From May 2004, large employers must start paying tax and other deductions electronically and they must start sending end of year returns (P14 and P35 data) online by May 2005, whilst employers who are ‘medium-sized’ in 2006 must start online filing by May 2006.

However, small employers do not have to start online filing until later, but those who start filing online early can get up to £825 tax-free from the Revenue over five years, starting with 2004-05 end of year returns.

The Revenue claims that electronic payment is a quicker, more secure way of making payment over the Internet, or over the phone, or using other electronic payment methods.

The Inland Revenue is in the process of writing to 1.6 million employers to inform them whether they are a large employer (250 or more employees), a medium-sized employer (50 -249 employees), or a small employer (fewer than 50).

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