A third of 2022 tax returns have now been dealt with

But more than a fifth of personal tax returns from 2020 are still to be processed.

The latest update to the backlog statistics was published yesterday, including the first data for 2022 returns, which showed more than a third of those returns have already been dealt with.

Data for 2019 is not included, as all of the returns from the year have now been completed, except for a small number of complex cases.

‘In the last two months leading up to the filing deadline for 2022 tax returns, we received over 57% (19,000) of the expected number of personal tax returns,’ said Revenue Service director Nicky Forshaw.

‘In tandem, we naturally received a higher than usual number of enquiries over this short period of time. I want to assure people that we take steps to try and mitigate these challenges, for example by employing additional skilled temporary staff, and Revenue Service staff are working extremely hard to process returns in a timely manner. Where possible, it is helpful and appreciated if customers are able to file their 2023 tax return before the final few weeks ahead of the deadline.’

So far 61% of personal returns from 2021 have been completed – a 3% rise on December last year.

The results for completed company returns are generally higher, at 93% for 2020, 86% for 2021, but only 16% for 2022.

Over 21,000 personal tax returns were submitted online for 2022, the highest number of online tax submissions ever recorded.

And the revenue service encouraged islanders to use the customer portal rather than a paper return, as these returns are manually inputted by the staff into the same system used by the online filing portal, which slows down the rate at which returns can be processed.

The 2023 return is the first where each individual will be responsible for their own tax affairs, regardless of their marital status.

The deadline for the 2023 tax return is the 31 January 2025 and help with registering for a MyGov account and filing online can be found at www.gov.gg/onlinetaxhelp.

• The latest update to the backlog statistics can be found at www.gov.gg/TaxReturn-Stats.