HMRC signs deal with Accenture for cloud-based tax system

HM Revenue & Customs HMRC sign - Image credit: HMRC

HMRC has signed a four-year deal with Accenture to supply and manage of the tax authority’s cloud-based tax system

The deal extends an existing contract Accenture has with HMRC for management of the National Insurance and PAYE Service.

The new contract is due to last until 2020 and will see the company develop, implement and maintain a secure cloud-hosted tax management system for individual taxpayers.

Accenture told Holyrood’s sister site PublicTechnology.net that the contract’s value to the firm “will depend on task orders and work draw-downs by the client over the coming years”.

In a separate statement, the centre’s managing director Mark Larsen said that Accenture would “radically transform and re-engineer the National Insurance PAYE Service applications and architecture, placing them at the heart of taxation for individuals”.

The move to a cloud-based tax system is part of HMRC’s drive to make the UK one of the world’s most digitally advanced tax administrations, which has seen it demand more from its suppliers as well as replace numerous contracts, most notably its £10bn IT contract with Capgemini.

The process of transforming HMRC’s IT systems and services has not been without trouble, with repeat warnings from MPs and experts that the authority was not fully aware of the scale of the challenge it was facing in moving to a digital system.

However, more recently, the UK’s spending watchdog the National Audit Office issued a report advising HMRC to “keep its nerve” over the changes it was implementing, although it added that this must not affect customer service.