Tweet
From todays Telegraph :-
Millions of tax returns could be outsourced to India, Computer Weekly claims
Self-assessment tax returns and other sensitive tax information could be processed in India, it has been claimed
By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor
Published: 7:00AM BST 05 Aug 2009
Officials at HM Revenue and Customs are said to be looking at the proposals to save £200 million a year.
HMRC's information technology work is already outsourced under a long-term contract which is worth about £8.5 billion.
The company, Capgemini, handles the IT for self-assessment tax returns and PAYE forms for about 30 million people, as well as the details of National Insurance Contributions for nearly everyone in Britain.
The new issue of Computer Weekly magazine claims that Capgemini, together with another contractor Fujitsu, is examining whether to send tax processing offshore, possibly to India.
The respected magazine said an internal memo sent to staff on the contract from the Public and Commercial Services Union claimed the companies were looking at the "potential offshoring of some future work", possibly to the sub-Continent.
The memo added: "HMRC has asked Capgemini to draw up proposals outlining how they could contribute to the demands for better value." A report on the plans is due to be produced next month.
The Government's current policy is for tax records to go overseas only in an emergency. Ministers have always refused to allow sensitive records on British citizens to be processed abroad routinely.
One reason for their reluctance is that it may be difficult to control who sees the information – and other countries may have less rigorous data protection laws and enforcement of them, Computer Weekly claimed.
Last week it was claimed that the British Council is planning to outsource jobs to India. The news was seen as a step toward the processing of British data overseas.
But the department strongly denied the claims, saying the Aspire contract did not allow IT services to be delivered from outside Britain and that taxpayer information would not go offshore.
A spokesman for HMRC said: "The contract does not permit IT services to be delivered from outside of the UK and we currently have no plans to change this. HMRC is constantly looking at how it can provide better value for money to the taxpayer."
Capgemini has been expanding its operations in India. It employs 18,000 of its 92,000 employees in India and has offices in Madras, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai.
A spokesman for Capgemini said: “Capgemini is continually looking at how to ensure ongoing value for money for HMRC. That work is currently ongoing so we cannot comment in detail.”
Millions of tax returns could be outsourced to India, Computer Weekly claims
Self-assessment tax returns and other sensitive tax information could be processed in India, it has been claimed
By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor
Published: 7:00AM BST 05 Aug 2009
Officials at HM Revenue and Customs are said to be looking at the proposals to save £200 million a year.
HMRC's information technology work is already outsourced under a long-term contract which is worth about £8.5 billion.
The company, Capgemini, handles the IT for self-assessment tax returns and PAYE forms for about 30 million people, as well as the details of National Insurance Contributions for nearly everyone in Britain.
The new issue of Computer Weekly magazine claims that Capgemini, together with another contractor Fujitsu, is examining whether to send tax processing offshore, possibly to India.
The respected magazine said an internal memo sent to staff on the contract from the Public and Commercial Services Union claimed the companies were looking at the "potential offshoring of some future work", possibly to the sub-Continent.
The memo added: "HMRC has asked Capgemini to draw up proposals outlining how they could contribute to the demands for better value." A report on the plans is due to be produced next month.
The Government's current policy is for tax records to go overseas only in an emergency. Ministers have always refused to allow sensitive records on British citizens to be processed abroad routinely.
One reason for their reluctance is that it may be difficult to control who sees the information – and other countries may have less rigorous data protection laws and enforcement of them, Computer Weekly claimed.
Last week it was claimed that the British Council is planning to outsource jobs to India. The news was seen as a step toward the processing of British data overseas.
But the department strongly denied the claims, saying the Aspire contract did not allow IT services to be delivered from outside Britain and that taxpayer information would not go offshore.
A spokesman for HMRC said: "The contract does not permit IT services to be delivered from outside of the UK and we currently have no plans to change this. HMRC is constantly looking at how it can provide better value for money to the taxpayer."
Capgemini has been expanding its operations in India. It employs 18,000 of its 92,000 employees in India and has offices in Madras, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore and Mumbai.
A spokesman for Capgemini said: “Capgemini is continually looking at how to ensure ongoing value for money for HMRC. That work is currently ongoing so we cannot comment in detail.”
Comment