The Comptroller of Taxes has warned that personal and business tax services will be restricted throughout January while the tax computer system is updated and all taxpayers’ paper-based files – amounting to 2,000 sq ft – are packed securely and moved to La Motte Street.
Richard Summersgill has also asked taxpayers to update details or make any queries in December to avoid being impacted by reduced services.
During January, tax officers will be preparing and migrating all taxpayers’ data from the current 35-year old computer system to a new Revenue Management System (RMS) and overseeing the move of more than 120,000 taxpayer files from their current offices in Cyril Le Marquand House to Philip Le Feuvre House in La Motte Street. During this time, Revenue Jersey staff will have limited access to both computerised and paper-based taxpayer records.
Significant work is already underway to test the new RMS system before taxpayer records are migrated in January. The digital move onto RMS will pave the way for the next raft of modernisation during 2019, including a customer service website that will offer online personal tax filing from 2020.
The tax teams, some 100 staff, will move to La Motte Street in January along with 2,000 sq ft of hardcopy files. They will join Social Security colleagues at Phillip Le Feuvre House in a move that brings together the first teams to become part of the new Revenue Jersey service in the Treasury and Exchequer department.
The tax teams have published a checklist that may help taxpayers make queries in December rather than January:
- Update your address so your tax return is sent to your current residence
- For employees, check your 2019 ITIS rate recently posted to you, give it to your employer, or query it if you think it may need changing
- Request a refund if you believe you have overpaid your tax and need an urgent repayment.
Business tax:
- If you have staff due to commence employment for the first time in Jersey, arrange for them to register for tax so they can be issued an ITIS rate, particularly in the case of employers taking on seasonal workers
- Make sure HR staff know the process for registering staff in January
- Complete any urgent requests for a GST refund
- If you need to register for GST during January 2019, do so in December
- If you have/ are subcontractors with ITIS Exemption cards, re-apply for your status
- Initiate any ISE registrations needed for January.
Mr Summersgill said: “The run-up to Christmas and period of restricted services during January 2019, will bring to a head over two years’ tireless effort by our people to prepare for new computer systems and new ways of working. Over the next eight weeks, we will make significant changes to our operations, moving onto a digital system that will allow us to design and deliver the 21st-century services our customers deserve. By the end of January we will be working in our ‘back-office’ on the new system which is the first step towards enabling most islanders to access records and to file online in 2020. I want to thank the public once again for their patience and assure them that all our people are pulling out all the stops to make this significant and important transition take place as smoothly as possible.”
Revenue Jersey is now running a campaign to highlight the potential customer impacts and how to avoid them. Visit gov.je/revenuejersey to see the full list of affected services and what you can do to avoid being impacted.
States of Jersey Press Release.