Nonagenarians taking to the net

Wednesday 05 June 2024

Drop-in sessions aimed at helping tax payers file their returns online have been hailed a success - with a 94-year-old amongst those signing up to use the service.

Two parish outreach sessions have been held so far, with more planned - along with a number at Edward T Wheadon House.

The idea is that people who want to submit a paper return can get some help to do so, as those versions have changed this year.

They're now 39 pages in length as they match the online versions - making it easier for the Revenue Service team to upload them.

Revenue Service staff have been at the parish drop-in sessions to help with that, and also to help anyone wanting to sign up for an online return.

Nicky Forshaw, Director of the Revenue Service said it's all about helping those who need it. 

"We're holding monthly drop in sessions at Edward T. Whedon House to support those customers to file online, if they just need a bit of support.

"They can bring their laptop or phone with them, and the team will be on hand to help them log in and submit the return. And then we're also doing these outreach sessions in each of the parishes.

"We've had a session in the north of the island at the Vale Douzaine, (and) one (yesterday) in the west of the island at St Saviours. And there's one coming up on the 18th of June in St Martin's. So again, these sessions are designed to help customers, either with online or other queries."

Pictured: Nicky Forshaw, Director of Revenue Service.

Mrs Forshaw confirmed that paper returns are not being phased out and they will remain available in future years for any tax payers who want to submit their return that way. But - if more people submit theirs online it will help speed up the assessment process for everyone.

"We're encouraging more people to go online, as it's more efficient for us and for customers. If you file your return online, it pre-populates your information for the next year so it's actually quicker for you to submit.

"You can log in and see or download a PDF of your submitted return, and you get an email confirming your submission for your records. So there are all sorts of real positives for customers from filing online.

"What we have done this year is we have amended the paper returns so it follows the flow of the online return. It is longer, but it does break down the questions into more easier to digest chunks. And it has also been done so that we can scan them and ingest them into the server in a different way. So it's less attention to process each one."

While acknowledging that some people will always prefer to use a paper form to submit their tax return, Mrs Forshaw said the drop-in sessions have really helped convert some people to the online service, and staff have been pleasantly surprised with how well the help has been received in some cases.

"We do have quite a number (of people) that we have supported to file online," she said, "and certainly our online customer service officer is very proud of the 94-year-old (who has submitted online). It's a record for the oldest person (to submit) online."

Mrs Forshaw is taking the success of the recent drop-in sessions as a positive sign as the Revenue Service tries to encourage more people to submit their returns online, but she also says that the paper returns will remain available in the future for those who want to use them.

"Part of the strategy this year was to see how they landed, and to try the online drop-in sessions to see what the take up is, by going out into the parishes see how they were. I think based on the feedback from the initial ones, that it's definitely something we'd like to keep going.

"We get really positive feedback when they succeeded (to get online) and quite a sense of accomplishment from them for having done it."