Online tax filings 'much higher than last year'

A significantly higher proportion of businesses are now filing their self assessment forms online than this time last year, it has emerged.

Figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) state that over two million tax return filings had been made using the internet system by January 6th this year, representing an increase of 25 per cent on 12 months ago.

In addition, reports suggest that this development is being driven primarily by the country's small businesses, as the majority of large firms have failed to embrace online filing because they deem many of their returns to be too complex for the system, Accountancy Age reports.

However, a tax official at Grant Thornton did state that HMRC had been "extremely helpful" in sorting out problems with online filing for larger companies.

According to HMRC, 500 tax returns were submitted online on Christmas Day 2007, compared with just 84 the previous year.

The tax body has urged businesses and individuals to use the online filing system in order to meet the January 31st deadline for tax returns without any problems.