First out-of-town Revenue Service drop-in held in Vale
More than 80 people took the chance to talk to Revenue Service staff at the first out-of-town income tax drop-in.
After providing drop-ins at Edward T Wheadon House in Town it was decided to offer personal support to people who might have found it difficult to get to the offices.
The drop-in at the Vale Douzaine Room started at 9am.
The idea proved popular and by noon about 80 people had been seen. The drop-in was open until 4pm.
Customer and administration services lead Chris Cox was one of five staff members on-hand to provide tax forms, as well as advice on completing them.
While Mr Cox focused on the paper forms, others helped people understand how to tackle the returns online.
He also helped some people to complete the paper forms there and then.
‘People have commented on how long the forms are, but I explained that was to bring them in line with the online returns,’ he said.
Many of those who went along had just wanted to pick up forms, and Mr Cox alone had given out 10 during the morning, as well as helping another 10 people complete theirs.
Phyl Griffith said she always used to collect her form from the Town office, but at the age of 90 found it difficult to get there. She had gone along to the Douzaine Room with her three grown-up daughters to collect a form and get some advice on completing it.
‘I can fill it in myself,’ said the former teacher.
‘But coming here has been very helpful.’
Pam Ingrouille always completes her and her husband’s tax returns online, but said she had been having login problems.
She said she could not understand why husbands and wives now had to fill in separate returns.
‘It’s an absolute pain,’ she said.
‘It’s creating far more work for the public and for civil servants.’
‘I can’t even log on. If you have a MyGov account for your professional life it won’t allow you to make a new login. I’m hoping to hear from the MyGov team.
‘I’m certainly not going to do a paper form.’
The next out of Town drop-in will be at St Saviour’s Community Centre on 4 June and then at St Martin’s parish hall on 18 June. Both run from 9am to 4pm and people are asked not to arrive too early to avoid having to wait outside. Further details can be found at www.gov.gg/onlinetaxhelp.
