H. M. Revenue and Customs Departmental Autumn Performance Report 2009
H. M. Revenue and Customs Departmental Autumn Performance Report 2009

Author: Great Britain. HM Revenue & Customs

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9780101777421

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HMRC is the UK's tax administration, responsible for administering income tax, corporation tax, VAT, National Insurance contributions, excise dutes, environmental taxes, insurance premium tax, capital gains tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty. It is also responsible for the payment of tax credits, child benefit and child trust fund endowments. Some of the achievements recorded for the first part of 2009-10 include: collection of over £209 billion in revenue; delivery of the biggest change to PAYE system in 20 years with the launch of the new PAYE Service and Work Management System (MPPC); delivery of the largest learning intervention in the UK this year with that new service; delivered 14 full or partial vacations of HMRC locations resulting in savings of £6.8 million; achieving platinum status in the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index and the launching of the Health in Pregnancy Grant

Administration and Expenditure of the Chancellor's Departments, 2007-08
Administration and Expenditure of the Chancellor's Departments, 2007-08

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 9780215526014

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The Treasury Sub-Committee calls for much greater transparency from the Treasury in accounting for the liabilities taken on by the nationalisation and part-nationalisation of financial institutions. The report recommends that these disclosures appear in the annual Treasury resource accounts. Furthermore they should be at least as comprehensive as those made by major corporations and go further than meeting the minimum acceptable accounting standards. In particular, the Report notes that the Treasury's 2007-08 Annual Report and Accounts cover the Government's financial relationship with Northern Rock but do not comment on its performance under temporary public ownership. Given the level of interest in the fully nationalised institutions of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, and the Treasury's role in their governance, the report recommends that key performance information for these institutions be published in the resource accounts as well. The wholesale nationalisation of Northern Rock, and Bradford & Bingley has created governance responsibilities for the Treasury while these entities remain under public ownership. The Government's announcements of October 2008 created further responsibilities regarding the oversight of part-nationalised banks, and created a new body, UK Financial Investments (UKFI). The report calls for UKFI to report annually to Parliament and to be accountable to the Treasury Committee. The Committee wants the Government to identify and publish performance indicators for UKFI, and to report against these measures on a six-monthly basis. All these developments are additional challenges for the Treasury and require it to act in areas its current staff base may not be fully equipped for or familiar with. The Government must ensure the Treasury is sufficiently resourced to manage the extended responsibilities arising from the economic downturn, especially those regarding financial stability.

HM Revenue & Customs
HM Revenue & Customs

Author: Great Britain. National Audit Office

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9780102954920

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In 2007-08, HMRC received more than a quarter of the 4 million Tax Credit renewals forms in July (the renewal deadline) and it processed half of the 8.2 million Income Tax Self Assessment returns during January to March. At busier times customers experience delays on their correspondence and receive a less responsive service. In the lead up to the Income Tax Self Assessment deadline in January 2008, HMRC answered just two thirds of the 7 million telephone calls made to its contact centres. By encouraging more customers to file tax returns online and removing the need for some returns, HMRC has smoothed peaks in workload and released resources of £7 million a year. The peak in Tax Credit renewal work has, however, increased as the deadline has been brought forward to reduce overpayments. Using different processing targets throughout the year and giving customers more information about how long their information will take to process during peak periods could help spread work out throughout the year. During busy periods, HMRC tends to process simpler Income Tax cases, postponing more complex checks and less urgent work. During peak periods, staff productivity is higher, partly reflecting the simpler cases, but HMRC also experiences increased staff sickness absence. The experience of HMRC and other organisations is that between 15 per cent and 40 per cent of contact with customers is avoidable. Reducing the number of avoidable calls by 15 per cent could release resources of up to £23 million a year or 11 per cent of its annual spending on contact centres.

HM Revenue & Customs' Transformation Programme
HM Revenue & Customs' Transformation Programme

Author: Great Britain. National Audit Office

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13: 9780102954241

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Eighteen months into an ambitious programme to transform HMRC, the Department has spent £851 million and achieved estimated benefits of £2.4 billion. These benefits are mainly from activities already underway when the programme began. Changes to funding have led the Department to revise and postpone parts of the programme, and the overall benefits expected carry high levels of uncertainty.A report out today by the National Audit Office found that most of the £11.5 billion benefits are expected to come from an increased tax yield (£6.3 billion) and transaction savings to business and government (£4.1 billion). The estimate of additional tax yield is volatile and assumes collection in full. The Department has made progress in developing its systems and processes and enhanced its project and financial management skills to deliver the programme. For most programmes it has developed governance processes and set out responsibilities for managing the projects. It delivered, as planned, one major programme in the first 18 months and has implemented parts of other programmes. It is taking action to improve implementation plans and milestones, risk management and contingency plans for some other programmes. A major driver of the programme is the Department's targets to achieve efficiency savings of 5 per cent a year. Changes in funding and content of the programme during 2007-08 delayed the completion of the business cases for individual programmes. The Department has approved business cases for 10 programmes and plans to complete the remaining three over Summer 2008. Finalising the component parts of the transformation programme is a critical step, particularly as the Department expects the funding available to peak in 2008-09 and reduce thereafter.Changing the culture of the Department to become more customer-focused is an important part of the programme. In any change programme staff satisfaction might be expected to decline and recent surveys indicate morale remains at a low ebb. The Department needs to more actively demonstrate the benefits to its staff and manage the expectations of customers as many of the improvements for them are scheduled for 2011 and beyond.

Hm Revenue and Customs
Hm Revenue and Customs

Author: House of Commons Public Accounts Commi

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2009-03-24

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9780215529213

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In this report the Committee of Public Accounts examines HM Revenue and Customs' (the Department) administration of tax credits and also examines the Department on its collection of income tax through PAYE and Self Assessment. The Department overpaid £7.3 billion in the first four years of the tax credits scheme and underpaid more than £2.0 billion. By the end of March 2008, it had collected £2.7 billion (37 per cent) of this debt and written off £1 billion (14 per cent). £3.6 billion of the total of overpayments are outstanding and the Department is unlikely to recover £1.8 billion. Overpayments continue to affect many people, including some of the most vulnerable in society. Claimants are not given the support they need in making claims and too much is assumed on the part of claimants in their understanding the complex tax credits system. Tax credits suffer from high rates of error and fraud: in 2006-07 claimant error and fraud is estimated to have led to incorrect payments of between £1.31 billion and £1.54 billion. In 2007-08, the Department collected £225 billion in income tax and national insurance contributions through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system. The planned transfer of the administration of PAYE to its National Insurance Recording System has been delayed, adding to the backlog of tax cases - currently 16 million - that must be checked manually. In 2007-08, the Department collected £30.2 billion (net) through the Self Assessment system. A total of 46 per cent of Self Assessment returns were filed online, significantly exceeding the 35 per cent target, though some 34 per cent of filed returns may be inaccurate, putting between £2.9 billion to £3.7 billion tax at risk.

Administration and expenditure of the Chancellor's departments, 2008-09
Administration and expenditure of the Chancellor's departments, 2008-09

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2010-03-09

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 9780215544506

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The Chancellor's departments faced extraordinary challenges during 2008-09, mainly arising from the need to respond to the emerging financial crisis and associated economic downturn. The report concludes that it is very difficult to draw final conclusions regarding their level of success - too much remains unfinished business. It draws attention, in particular, to the new relationship between the Treasury and UKFI, and recommends that the Government considers whether the formal terms of the relationship need some re-definition in the light of experience. The report is particularly concerned by the dire results for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) of a cross-Government staff survey pilot study. The Report calls for HMRC management to publish a clear and detailed plan to provide focus and direction to their efforts to re-engage with their workforce. Noting a rise in customer complaints and that, on average, only 57 per cent of calls to HMRC contact centres were answered during 2008-09. HMRC should publish more data to enable effective scrutiny of its performance against its targets, data which is essential for tax gaps to be closed and for the take up of the working tax credit to be assessed and improved. The Report is critical of the failure of most departments to provide accurate and timely monthly in-year figures to the Treasury. Other sections of the report cover National Savings & Investment, the revaluation of UK statutory ports and the performance of the Royal Mint.

Administration and effectiveness of HM Revenue and Customs
Administration and effectiveness of HM Revenue and Customs

Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2011-07-30

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 9780215561039

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This report identified serious concerns in a number of areas, including: unacceptable difficulties contacting HMRC by phone during peak periods; endemic delays in responding to post; and an increasing focus on online communication that may exclude those without reliable internet access. The Committee recognises that the Department performs a crucial role and operates under significant external pressures including continuing resource reductions, deficiencies in tax legislation and the legacy of the merger. It also acknowledges the commitment of management to tackling these problems and the dedication and professionalism of HMRC staff. However, it concluded that the Department has a difficult few years ahead of it, as it attempts to improve its service. The Committee makes recommendations in the following areas: Improving the service provided by contact centres; providing robust alternative to online contact; ensuring greater awareness of the impact of process changes on individuals and businesses; ensuring reductions in resources are managed in a way that is commensurate with the enabling IT and process improvements and minimises the loss of Departmental tax expertise; reviewing the division of responsibilities between HMRC and HM Treasury in relation to making tax policy, to ensure practical considerations are taken into account at the earliest possible stage; better targeting of letters that threaten serious consequences against individuals; having the National Audit Office externally audit preparations for Real-time Information, to ensure Ministers can be held accountable for progress against the Government's ambitious timetable; and examining how the Department can achieve better accountability around the settlement of large tax cases

Information Technology and Traditional Legal Concepts
Information Technology and Traditional Legal Concepts

Author: Richard Jones

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-18

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1317982126

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Information technology has served to revolutionise the use, exchange, and protection of information. The growth of the internet, the convergence of technologies as well as the development of user generated and social networking sites has meant that significant amounts of person data as well as copyrighted materials are now readily accessible. Within this changing cultural landscape the legal concepts of privacy, data protection, intellectual property and criminality have necessarily had to develop and adapt. In this volume a number of international scholars consider this process and whether it has merely been a question of the law adapting to technology or whether technology has been forced to adapt to law. Technologies have wrought a culture shift it is therefore apposite to ask whether legal concepts, as reflections of culture, should also change. It is in this volume where papers on privacy date protection, intellectual protection and cyber crime begin address this question. This book was published as a special issue of International review of Law Computers and Technology.

Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set
Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

Author: John G. Voeller

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2010-04-12

Total Pages: 2950

ISBN-13: 0471761303

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The Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security is an essential and timely collection of resources designed to support the effective communication of homeland security research across all disciplines and institutional boundaries. Truly a unique work this 4 volume set focuses on the science behind safety, security, and recovery from both man-made and natural disasters has a broad scope and international focus. The Handbook: Educates researchers in the critical needs of the homeland security and intelligence communities and the potential contributions of their own disciplines Emphasizes the role of fundamental science in creating novel technological solutions Details the international dimensions of homeland security and counterterrorism research Provides guidance on technology diffusion from the laboratory to the field Supports cross-disciplinary dialogue in this field between operational, R&D and consumer communities