The UK's Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) on Wednesday sounded the alarm over the Carter review’s recommendations for changes to the self-assessment filing dates for tax returns.
Lord Carter of Coles was tasked in July 2005 with reviewing the online services of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Recommendations from the review included bringing forward self-assessment filing dates from January 31 to September 30 for paper returns and November 30 for online returns, starting in 2008.
In the Budget in March the Chancellor accepted the recommendations and agreed to implement them without consultation with the accountancy profession or other interested parties.
According to the FSB:
"The main objection to the move from accountants and small firms is the sheer size of the reduction in filing time. The extension to 30th November for online filing is an added incentive of two extra months but this will be withdrawn after an uncertain period of time when HMRC assumes that online filing will have been embraced."
"As well as putting unnecessary pressure on the accountancy profession, the changes will cause problems for all small firms regardless of whether they file returns themselves or use accountancy services to complete their returns."
Neil Hamper, FSB National Tax Spokesman, added:
“In the Budget the Chancellor accepted Carter’s recommendations without any consultation. This unilateral change of tax return dates, with no consultation or consideration of industry views, will create chaos in the short term.
“This creates a shorter period in which to gather up information to complete tax returns. For small firms who submit their own returns this will increase the pressure on them. For those that use accountants it will increase the cost of doing so as their service provider will have to take on temporary staff to handle the increased workload. Either way it will cause serious difficulties for small firms and accountants.
“We call on the Government to re-visit their decision to implement Carter without consultation or consideration of the practical impacts that this will have on small businesses and the accountancy profession.”
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