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Thursday 09 January 2014

The States has issued an apology after a major new website, set up to streamline business returns to the tax and manpower offices, crashed after just a few days.

That left businesses unable to complete their mandatory returns. It is now working again. States Corporate Policy Director Paul Bradbury apologised for the problems, and said that they would be sympathetic to businesses who missed the 31 January filing deadline because of the problems with the site.

He said: "The volume of traffic on the new tax and manpower website has been considerable, and the website was taken down as a consequence to make changes to improve its speed. The website has now been restored and can be used, with the speed of the website having been increased significantly. We apologise for the inconvenience this will have caused people seeking to submit returns.

“We also continue to improve the website in response to the experience of users. A guide is available online, and people who have concerns can call 448913 or email businesslicencing@gov.je.”

The States had been promoting the site as part of a streamlined process which would do away with old paperwork and emails and set up a simpler process, and had promised to make the transition ‘as smooth as possible’.

All businesses in Jersey have to file a Manpower Return every six months, and up until this year, that has simply recorded the number of full and part-time employees and whether they were locally qualified or not.

The new return includes residential status, and potentially tax details, and is part of a set of tighter controls that the States have brought in to make sure that jobs are being filled only by people with the right residential qualifications.