The Inland Revenue Department has implemented online services over the Internet for the Final Settlement System (FSS). These services enable employers and authorised tax practitioners to:
¤ Submit over the Internet the FSS payer's annual reconciliation statement (FS7) and employee's statements of earnings (FS3) for tax and social security contribution;
¤ View online FSS tax and social security payments.
The department has re-engineered the business processes so that when employers use these services over the Internet, feedback on the submission is immediate and once errors arising out of these submissions are corrected the submission is acknowledged online.
All this can take place from the employer's desk, removing the need to call at the department to submit the diskette. Employers can also check the payments that were effected for that submission and they can ask for corrections to be made at an early stage in the process.
During February and March the Inland Revenue held a number of information sessions for employers to facilitate the implementation of the FSS online services.
The information sessions focused on the security aspect of the secure IR Services online Website, the new facilities and the FSS electronic lodgment specifications. The feedback from the employers both during the information sessions and from the take- up of these services is very encouraging and the department will release in the near future further versions of the software enhanced with the requirements as requested by the employers.
The information sessions were presented by Pierre Vella, project manager of the Inland Revenue Information System projects at MITTS Ltd, accompanied by Inland Revenue officers Anthony Azzopardi, assistant director of the FSS section, and Godfrey Calleja, assistant director of the Department's Computer Section.
The Website for IR services online and the supporting back office software modules were developed by MITTS Ltd. The Website is a secure site that requires authentication by a digital certificate resident on the personal computer of the user besides a login name and password.
Furthermore all transmissions between the Website and the personal computer of the end-user are encrypted.
IR services online was launched in September 2002 to provide services and facilities to tax practitioners authorised by their corporate clients. Tax practitioners from their office desks are able to:
¤ View taxpayer accounts (to confirm payments, balances and tax return filing)
¤ File company income tax returns and financial statements
¤ Submit provisional tax reduction forms.
Additional facilities to IR services online are planned for later this year. Inland Revenue will introduce online payment facilities and submission of income tax returns.
IR services online is a project of the Inland Revenue in line with the e-Government Project that is being implemented across government by the Ministry of Information Technology and Investments. Further information is available on www.ird.gov.mt.