“Success is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure” – Colin Powell

With January out of the way and the deadline for self-assessment online submissions now gone, I wonder how the nation did?

The submission deadline for online tax returns was three days ago and for those who still haven’t submitted theirs (all 890,000 of them) face a fine of £100. As I’ve mentioned before HMRC don’t take too kindly to late submissions – although they are making a tidy sum from this; so unless you are suffering from a serious illness or even a death in the family be prepared to pay up.

But aside from this HMRC were having their own issues with the way they were handling calls from the public. With calls not being answered or helplines being cut off should we be surprised that there were problems? With HMRC cutting their workforce within the past 10 years perhaps we shouldn’t be.

This is why preparation and planning are so important – especially with a project as big as this one. Submitting your tax returns aren’t a new thing so why are HMRC so unprepared? Why are there complaints of calls not being answered and helplines being cut off? With the constant criticism and bad press they always receive you would think they would have worked this one out and if you ask me they’ve set themselves up to fail.

If you like the way we think – you will like the way we work.

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