Why did our States not give us the option to file tax returns jointly?
I APPLAUD the States of Jersey’s sensible decision that married people, and those in civil partnerships, are allowed to keep the right to file their tax returns jointly if they wish when new legislation begins in 2026.
Why, oh why, did our States not afford us this option when they passed the legislation that couples must file their tax returns individually, making tax returns even more taxing, from 2023 submissions?
Our under-staffed income tax department seems to be in disarray and floundering in a backlog of tax returns, whilst paying out hundreds of thousands of pounds of compensation to those who have waited more than a year to receive rebates. Is this really the time to make couples submit twice the amount of paperwork/online submissions?
Whilst many couples may wholeheartedly embrace this change, I have yet to meet one, let alone anyone who feels that it should be compulsory.
Admittedly my husband and I are Luddites who still fill in our tax returns on paper forms, our bank accounts are held jointly, as is the mortgage and therefore sending in two forms seems farcical. How much longer will the backlog become once this is thrown into the mix?
This is not an attack on the beleaguered staff at the income tax department, who find themselves fighting an uphill battle with a system that does not work. Once you get face to face with a member of staff they admirably deal with complaints and queries politely and as helpfully as they can. I can only imagine how hard it must be to keep a smile on their faces under such ‘taxing’ working conditions.
If only common sense could prevail and an opt-out option be provided before the situation escalates from the department staring into a deep hole filled with un-processed tax forms to a black hole of them?
Sadly I fear that I will find myself traipsing into Town to dutifully collect my two paper forms on 29 April, fill them both in for my husband and I and traipse back to deliver them, adding to the avalanche of extra administration heaped on the already groaning desks at Edward T Wheadon House.
I do concede that the traipsing would be optional should we complete the forms online. If only the same could be said for the need for two forms, which is compulsory.
A BLONDEL
Vale