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Self assessment is a simple subject, no? Its salient details can be easily condensed by the taxman in to concise, online summaries of no more than 140 characters each. And with the aid of those handy snippets, millions of taxpayers will be able to file their online returns days on time and with little or no effort – thus eliminating the UK’s need for tax advisers.
As a result, tens of thousands of chartered accountants and legal advisers will be forced on to the dole, putting extra strain on an already wheezing economy until the country is plunged first into recession and then depression more fathomless than the superdeep borehole on Russia’s Kola peninsula.
When the rocky bottom of the unforgiving chasm finally rushes up to meet our plummeting nation, families will be smashed apart, brother will turn against brother, blood will run in rivers through our cities’ desolate streets, and society will disintegrate. All because of some tasty morsels of advice.
Yeah, all right: that’s a, er, worst-case scenario. The fact is that self assessment (SA) isn’t usually effortless, and those wee synopses – which web-savvy readers will have recognised as tweets – aren’t going to be a cure-all for the splitting headache that the 31 January deadline can be for so many. They could, however, take the edge off. You know, ease the needling sharpness behind the eyes and reduce that cranial discomfort to a dull throb.
The figurative medication was prescribed a few days before Christmas, when HMRC finally made it on to Twitter. The department is trialling the profile @HMRCgovUK in the run-up to the end of this month, hoping to attract mainly agents as followers but also intending to serve anyone in need of tax advice. Although it’s still early days, things look promising (like paracetamol rather than some homeopathic jibbery-joo).
The tweets – limited to a couple per day, for the sake of simplicity and focus – comprise links to aspects of the Revenue’s online SA advice, along with the odd bit of news (illegal fuel-laundering plants closed down) and the occasional cute fact (96 people filed their return between 11pm and midnight on New Year’s Eve).
The whole shebang comes with a straightforward and sensible policy on the use of Twitter (which will celebrate its fifth birthday in July). The document includes the department’s pledge to read all tweets directed its way and then respond to those that add value to conversations. There’s a commitment to security and openness (private messages will not be entertained) – and, unsurprisingly, tweets will not be accepted as notifications in respect of tax affairs. You can read the policy in full here.
Elaine Graham, the Revenue spokesperson in charge of tweeting, says the pilot scheme is going well, and response has been largely positive, with people praising the move to social networking to provide practical advice. Postings are being retweeted a lot, says Elaine, so ‘it looks like the information is going to be people who need it’.
Once SA is out of the way, the department will consider ‘possibly using Twitter in a number of other ways’ – which would mean more tweets on a range of subjects, and, one would assume, extra work for Elaine.
This article wouldn’t be complete without a word or three from the ‘Twittering tax man’, James McBrearty of TaxHelpUK.com, who reckons HMRC are on to a good thing that will cost next to nothing to run. (Some outraged web users have, rather tiresomely, demanded to know the price of the taxman’s tweets, as if it’s going to empty the public purse.) My guess is that it runs to no more than 30 minutes of Elaine’s time each working day; less if one of her colleagues in the press office lends a hand.)
The information the Revenue is providing is quite helpful, says James, and it allows users to avoid having to trawl the menus on the department’s website, as well as building up an internet content of searchable information.
In short, it’s looking pretty good. There is, however, one serious criticism of @HMRCgovUK. It doesn’t follow Taxation.
