Guernsey’s Revenue Service has ruled out a move to UK-style personal self-assessment for now, but says it wants more taxpayers to benefit from simplified and automated processes.
The response comes after the Chamber of Commerce called for a radical rethink of the island’s tax system, including a move towards taxpayer self-assessment and “exception-based” processing.
A Chamber spokesperson asked: “Is personal self-assessment being considered?”
Now, Revenue Service Director of Operations Jean Mehers has confirmed to Express there were currently “no plans” to do so.
But she said the service was already using automation to assess straightforward tax returns, while around 10,000 customers with very simple tax affairs did not currently have to complete a Personal Tax Return.
Mrs Mehers said the Revenue Service wanted to “increase the number of taxpayers who can benefit from simplified and automated processes”.
The response was given to a series of questions submitted by the Chamber following publication of the Revenue Service’s report into its huge tax backlog.
More automation, but no UK-style self-assessment
In the UK – and most of the rest of the world – the majority of people don’t do tax returns.
Self-employed people and business owners complete a self-assessment, as do some people with complicated financial affairs, but the average person with an ordinary job doesn’t need to.
By contrast, in Guernsey almost everyone has to.
The Chamber had asked whether this could be replaced with a UK-style system where ordinary workers with simple tax affairs didn’t need to do a tax return, echoing previous calls to look at income tax returns.
Mrs Mehers said such a change would have “significant customer, policy and operational implications” and would likely require changes to the law.
However, she said elements of the approach were already being used.
Straightforward personal tax returns can be automatically assessed, with more complex cases sent for manual review.
Around 10,000 people with very simple tax affairs are also assessed without having to complete a Personal Tax Return, she said.
However, the States’ own website says: “Anyone living in, working in or receiving income from Guernsey is required to complete a personal tax return each year unless they have been advised, in writing, by the Director of the Revenue Service that they no longer need to complete one.”
Automated assessments were paused for the 2024 and 2025 tax years while improvements were made to the employer returns process, but Mrs Mehers said this was a precautionary measure to ensure the underlying data was complete and accurate.
She said it was not due to a limitation in the automated personal tax assessment process.
No API plans or timetable for statements
The Revenue Service also said there were currently no plans to introduce direct integration with accounting software, API filing or the submission of coded accounts from third-party software.
These could be considered as part of its longer-term digital strategy, she added.
Similarly, while improving account statements and visibility remained an “important objective”, Revenue could not give a target timetable for delivering them.
The Chamber had called for a rolling digital roadmap setting out when major improvements would be delivered.
Mrs Mehers said that would also be premature, with the service first needing to stabilise operations, assess priorities, develop business cases and secure funding.
‘Not standing still’
Despite ruling out commitments to specific projects, Mrs Mehers said the Revenue Service was “not standing still”.
Its longer-term direction included greater self-service, improved portal functionality, better access to customer information, clearer statements, increased automation, reduced manual processing and improved digital services.
But she said the immediate priority remained recovering the service and clearing its backlogs.
One of the key lessons from recent experience, she said, was the importance of ensuring plans were “fully developed, properly funded, realistically sequenced and deliverable” before public commitments were made.
“To do otherwise would risk repeating the mistakes of the past,” she said.
What did we ask – and was it answered?
We asked the States six questions.
Here’s what Mrs Mehers said.
She answered all our questions in detail, and you can read the full responses HERE.
- Self-assessment: Is the Revenue Service actively considering moving towards a personal self-assessment model with more exception-based processing? If so, what would be required to make that possible?
✅ Answered: Mrs Mehers said there were currently no plans to move to personal self-assessment. Revenue said it already automatically assesses many straightforward returns and has around 10,000 customers who do not need to complete a Personal Tax Return. - Software integration and automation: Are there plans to introduce more direct integration with accounting and tax software, such as API filing or the ability to upload coded accounts, to reduce the manual data-entry burden currently faced by local accounting firms?
✅ Answered: Mrs Mehers said there were currently no plans to introduce these capabilities, although they could be considered as part of the longer-term digital strategy. - Query management / ticketing system: Are there plans to introduce a modern customer ticketing or case-management system to help track, assign and manage incoming tax queries from members of the public and agents?
✅ Answered: Mrs Mehers said Revenue already has systems and processes for managing cases and enquiries and will explore opportunities to improve them, including greater automation in creating, routing and tracking enquiries. - Statements and account visibility: What is the target timetable for restoring accurate, consolidated account statements for agents and individual taxpayers?
✅ Answered: Mrs Mehers said there was currently no target timetable. Revenue said this remained an important objective but that recovery and operational stability came first. - Roadmap transparency: Beyond clearing the current backlog, does the Revenue Service intend to publish a high-level rolling roadmap for digital improvements, for example covering the next 12 months and then providing an annual outlook, so businesses and agents have greater visibility of when key features are expected to go live?
✅ Answered: Not yet. Mrs Mehers said a longer-term digital strategy would be developed once the service had stabilised, with priorities, business cases and funding needing to be agreed first. - Anything else you’d like to say: Is there anything else you’d like to say based on the Chamber’s statement last week?
✅ Answered: Mrs Mehers said: “We recognise the concerns expressed by businesses, taxpayers, agents and representative bodies regarding the impact that service delays and backlogs have had on customers. We welcome ongoing engagement with stakeholders, including the Chamber of Commerce, as we continue our recovery programme.
“The publication of the backlog report was an important step in setting out the current position, the scale of the challenges being addressed and the actions being taken to resolve them. While significant work remains, our focus is on restoring a stable, reliable and effective Revenue Service that delivers improved outcomes for taxpayers, accountants and the wider community.
“We are determined to learn from the experience of recent years. That means focusing first on delivering recovery, stability and measurable improvements in service performance before running the risk of over-promising by making premature commitments to complex future developments. There are a number of worthwhile opportunities for further modernisation that we want to explore, and work is underway to identify and assess those opportunities. However, we are equally conscious of the need not to overcommit or move faster than our ability to deliver. Our priority is to secure a solid foundation, rebuild confidence in the service and ensure that any future commitments are realistic, properly planned, appropriately funded and capable of being delivered successfully.”
You can read Mrs Mehers’ full statement here.
