‘It’s not wrong, you’re just confused’

Friday 17 January 2020

Jersey’s Comptroller for Taxes has hit back at social media commenters claiming that the department’s new system got their taxes wrong, instead saying they might be confused by the new assessments’ layout.

In a statement aiming to “clarify the facts” following a spate of criticism levelled at Revenue Jersey online, Richard Summersgill confirmed that the IT system “is calculating taxes correctly”, despite suffering “a number of glitches when it was rolled out”.

Citing the possible reasons islanders may have believed their assessments to be wrong, he explained: “The new printed assessments generated by the new system are different to, and more detailed than, what Islanders are used to, and can be confusing.

“We are working to improve them so they are clearer and easier to understand.”

Mr Summersgill also signalled that some of the responsibility could lie with employers, noting that some data sent to Revenue Jersey contained “errors” which were only now being picked up by the new system.

Pictured: The Comptroller suggested that some employers had made mistakes in the ITIS information submitted to Revenue Jersey.

He said such examples included:

• “taxpayers who have not updated their circumstances in good time;
• a taxpayer (and employer) who have used an effective rate issued in 2014, which they have not updated since;
• taxpayers who have accrued arrears that they have not paid off, which the new system has picked up and included in the assessment.”

The Comptroller also took the opportunity to apologise for the delays in completing the 2018 tax assessments, acknowledging that islanders had received a “poor level of service”, with long waiting times to speak to advisers both in person and over the phone.

“Staffing levels and the implementation of the new system have had knock-on effects on our service, but we are doing everything we can to complete the 2018 assessments and get service levels back up to the standards that Islanders expect,” Mr Summersgill said.

Nonetheless, he pledged that online filing – due to be launched next week – would resolve many of the problems Revenue Jersey had been experiencing.

“The launch of online filing later this month will significantly reduce the number of manual assessments we need to do, which will also help to improve services.

“I urge people to file online this year if they can.”