Guernsey taxpayers offered help with online filing

The drop-ins will run once a month until the end of the year at Edward T Wheadon House

Guernsey residents are being offered drop-in sessions to help them fill out their personal tax returns online.

The sessions are being offered by the States' Revenue Service and will take place every month from 13 May until the end of the year.

The drop-ins are part of the service's drive to encourage people to file their tax returns online, with paper tax returns being made longer from 2023.

Nicky Forshaw, director of the Revenue Service, said she understood people's "frustrations" with the changes to paper tax forms and has asked her team to be "sensitive to people's requirements".

The 2023 paper tax return has been redesigned to allow staff to scan information in, rather than retyping it, which means they are longer. The revenue service hopes it will help reduce their backlog.

However the service wants to encourage people to move away from paper forms altogether in favour of online tax returns, which it says will be quicker to fill in, improve efficiency and reduce costs for the taxpayer.

The first session will run on Monday 13 May between 08:45 and 16:00 BST at Edward T Wheadon House in St Peter Port, with subsequent drop-ins on 10 June, 8 July, 12 August, 9 September, 7 October, 11 November and 16 December.

Anyone coming to the drop-ins is being asked to bring their personal laptop, tablet or mobile phone.

Mrs Forshaw said the service was working with parishes to set up alternative sessions for people unable to get to the drop in sessions in person.