HMRC website glitch 'could confuse tax payers'

Accountants have warned sole traders that the self assessment pages of HM Revenue & Custom's (HMRC) are confusing and could cause small business owners to pay too much tax.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) warned that those people who have already "been efficient" and filed their 2007/08 self-assessment tax return could be confused by the HMRC site.

It explained that people logging on to check how much tax they are due to pay at the end of this month might find it appears they need to pay a very large sum of money.

However, the accountants added that an error on the site meant the amount shown on the first screen that comes up is actually the total amount owed over the next 13 months.

"The HMRC website is misleading and could give many tax payers a headache, as they might believe they're due to pay a lot more than they actually owe," Anita Monteith, technical manager at the ICAEW tax faculty, commented.

"Several tax payers might get on the phone to the HMRC helpline, wasting time and worrying unnecessarily. By clicking through to the next screen, however, a full breakdown of which amounts are due on which dates will show."

Recently, HMRC revealed that it had put the capital gains tax supplementary page of the self-assessment tax return online.