Tax deadline extended after website crash
Thursday, 31 January 2008 12:00
HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) self-assessment website hit technical difficulties today - on the deadline for files to be returned.
The tax man has now extended the self assessment deadline to midnight on February 1st - an extension of 24 hours for both those filing online or by paper - as the computer system gets back up to speed.
An HMRC spokesperson said: "HMRC's Self Assessment online filing service has experienced technical difficulties this morning which has meant some taxpayers have experienced difficulties filing online.
"HMRC takes any disruption of service very seriously and... we very much regret any inconvenience this may have caused."
People who miss the new self-assessment deadline will still face a £100 fine.
Over 3.6 million people are expected to file their returns online this year and so far today some 104,000 have done so.
Last year 150,000 people filed their returns in the last 24 hours before the deadline - with the HMRC website dealing with over 6,000 returns an hour at the peak of activity.
The Conservatives are claiming the website failure is further proof of HMRC "incompetence" after the taxman lost data with 25 million people's personal details in its internal post in October last year.
Philip Hammond, shadow Treasury secretary, said: "When will Alistair Darling get a grip?
"He's happy to threaten taxpayers with £100 fines if they don't send in their tax returns on time, but he can't even provide them with the basic tools to do the job.
He added: "This is more evidence of the endemic incompetence at HMRC."
An investigation into the reasons behind the computer problems is now in place - with speculation that the system buckled under the weight of users, although an HMRC spokesperson said the computer systems were "robust".
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