States of Guernsey online tax return service

design by Web Labs

States of guernsey
States of Guernsey

Personal Tax return with Web Labs eGov Forms that empowers taxpayers to work out their own tax bill

In late 2020 Web labs were contracted to accelerate the development of the eGov forms for the States of Guernsey (SOG) Revenue Service. The SOG Revenue Service Business Analysis team soon devolved the entire development of the online tax returns portal to Web Labs who delivered within a challenging deadline.

Web Labs proved it was possible to deploy a user-friendly online tax return service including some powerful features like:

  • Saved progress for return and save
  • Step by step navigation
  • Tailored returns for a wide array of personas
  • Streamline completion allowing skipped sections which do not apply
  • Liability calculator with ‘look at how it's been calculated' UI
  • Review your return to check answers
  • Download your completed return as a PDF

"We've had an online tax return since 2007...but this one has moved more into the modern world, so it looks much friendlier than the other one did. It's much, much quicker, much easier, and much more user-friendly. It will encourage people to file their returns online."

Sarah Davies (Head of service delivery at the Revenue Service)

The Personal Tax return portal includes the familiar GDS Form patterns. Under the presentation layer lies Web Labs software that calculates the income tax due (with potentially thousands of permutations) via personally tailored digital form journeys. These user journeys can include:

  • Individual and combined returns (for married couples)
  • Employment income
  • Allowable expenses
  • Self-employment
  • Profit from land a property
  • Income from pensions
  • Interest from bank and savings accounts

Despite the complexity of this application, for the users it is easy to submit ‘easy to understand' returns. The complex calculations are outputted dynamically then archived for the user's personal accounting and synced with the Revenue Service's customer records. All submitted data is formatted for Microsoft Dynamics 365 (CRM). Web Labs Collaborated with Agilisys development team who supply the CRM.

Encouraging Customer Reviews

"Well designed and easy to follow instructions."

"Excellent platform for submitting my tax return and very informative all the way through. - Excellent. I can't wait to recommend it to my friends."

"Found the system very easy to use." "So much easier and understandable to complete - well done"

"A huge improvement on the old system. Very easy to use, easy to set up the account, easy to work through all the sections and very easy to go back and amend or check anything."

"I am so impressed with this new portal! Really like the estimated calculation at the end."

'I found it easy to complete, even for the older generation"

"I am an older member of the community and I was a bit nervous to use the online version of the return but have found it to be very user friendly"

"Congratulations for this online service which is clear, concise and easy to follow"

"Really excellent way of submitting my return. So easy to use and navigate. The option to save your progress and continue later is great."

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