PAYE computer oversight deletes records

The Inland Revenue has deleted an unknown number of taxpayer records as part of the routine 'housekeeping' of its Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) computer.

According to a report published by the National Audit Office, an automatic process for removing obsolete data has deleted some records before the final review to check their status.

'This means some customers will not have received the repayments to which they may have been entitled and others may owe tax which has not been collected,' says the report.

The Inland Revenue is unable to estimate how many records may have been lost, or the financial implications.

Cases affected are where the person left their employment three years earlier and in the meantime was no re-employed or receiving a pension. The cases for 2003/4 have been re-instated but those for 2001/2 and 2002/3 are lost.

The problem arose when a standard process for cleaning up the database, introduced some years ago, became inappropriate as circumstances changed, says the Revenue. The direct problem has been fixed, it says.

The department is currently investigating how many people could have been affected by the problem and will report to Parliament on the matter in due course.

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