More Computer Problems For The Inland Revenue

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

21 January 2003

The UK's Inland Revenue must wish computers had never been invented. After a series of embarassing incidents last year in which the Revenue's much-trumpeted on-line tax filing site had to be shut down for extended periods because visitors were being connected to other people's personal tax details, it has now emerged that staff have been browsing through taxpayers’ records, and may have breached data protection laws by disclosing tax information to outside agencies or even selling it to the press.

The news became public when Computer Weekly magazine obtained a copy of an internal newsletter sent to Inland Revenue employees by the department’s Human Resources Conduct and Discipline Section. The newsletter warns employees not to access personal tax records without legitimate reasons, and reveals that the Revenue has become aware of incidents of unauthorised browsing of taxpayers’ records.

The most frequent incidents were of 'celebrity browsing' or looking up the details of family or friends “out of idle curiosity”. But some employees are said to have used the information maliciously, for example revealing ex-spouses’ income to the Child Support Agency, or selling personal tax records to outside agencies.

John Rickard, of the Inland Revenue's Human Resources Conduct and Discipline Section, told the Revenue's newsletter: "The bottom line is that you must not access any records unless you have a legitimate business reason for doing so."

Well, indeed, but what kind of computer system is it that allows presumably junior employees to browse confidential personal data at will? Such incidents make a mockery of the government's insistence that it keeps personal data strictly private, and doesn't share it even between ministries. Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants said he was shocked: "I find it extraordinary and unbelievable. I have always thought that there may be some recreational surfing but this is beyond my wildest expectations."

The Revenue doesn't even seem to have harvested much efficiency from its plentiful ranks of computers: after sending out incorrect penalty notices to a number of fully compliant taxpayers last month, the agency admitted that it was struggling to deal with a dramatic build-up of workload. Managing Director of tax information site TaxZone, Gary Mackley-Smith said: 'The issue of incorrect penalty notices by the Revenue is another example of a department facing meltdown as it struggles with a massive backlog of post. It's already taking up to three months to process correspondence.'

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