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Concerns about the ruggedness of HMRC's computerised PAYE services have led to a delay to the next stage of their development.
The Revenue announced that phase three of the Modernising PAYE Processes for Customers (MPPC) scheme will now not go live in October as previously scheduled.
MPPC is designed to bring together individual PAYE details on to one system and enable the taxman to process information much faster and more efficiently.
The platform is intended, claimed HMRC, to 'introduce higher levels of automation, improve accuracy and efficiency of processing, and enhance our management information and workflow management'.
However, the department added that since the system was designed, higher-than-expected 'transaction volumes' have occurred, and as a result it has been decided to defer implementation while improvements are made to accommodate greater capacity.
Director-general of personal tax Bernadette Kenny said: 'Ensuring that our customers are properly served by our PAYE services is of paramount importance to us, but we will not go ahead with implementing the new system until it is completely ready.
'This is a sensible decision.'
The postponement of the launch of MPPC's third stage is a source of apprehension for the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), which said the move was 'a blow for low-income people, as the new PAYE Service promised far greater accuracy in their tax affairs'.
The LITRG added: 'No reason for the deferral [was] given in the announcement, but the implication is that either the system has not been robust under testing, or that HMRC resources are so stretched that they could not cope with the manual adjustments which follow from running the new system'.
