It really is about time that HMRC got their website up to scratch and, in particular, get the search facility sorted out. Unless you know the actual name and number of any specific VAT notice, the search facility is a real hit and miss affair. And even if you do know the name and number of the VAT notice and type the information correctly into the search box, chances are that the notice you’re looking for won’t come up at the top of the search results, but maybe half way or even lower down the page.

What often seems to happen is that the first results for word searches – eg “VAT General Guide” – comes up with very literal results and if you even get one word wrong, it can send you on a bit of a wild goosechase. The first result in our search for the “VAT general guide” is the Intrastat General Guide, then the guide to landfill tax, followed by climate change levy….and so on and so on. The first mention of the actual Notice 700, the VAT Guide, comes in at about no 11 down the search results. And the results vary from search to search – for example, search for VAT Notice 733 about the Flat Rate Scheme and the results list didn’t even include a link to the notice itself on the first page of search results. This isn’t necessarily a problem if you know what you’re looking for, but if you’re new to the site or have limited knowledge of the subject, it’s very frustrating.

Always room for improvement

I actually think that the HMRC website has improved considerably over the years and that a lot of the VAT notices are well written and are readable to most people who have a working knowledge of the subject. But as the primary portal for UK taxpayers and businesses needing access to information about taxes, it really should be better. It’s about time that the most important and requested notices are listed prominently with direct links.

Well I don’t know whether HMRC have any plans to do this so I decided to do it here on www.vatexchange.co.uk. I’ve just started with a few of the most important notices and put the relevant link to the notice on the HMRC website for ease of access. It’s only a start and I’ll add more as time goes on, but do feel free to suggest other notices that you think should be included. See the link to the new list on the menu.

Also seeking my blogging mojo

Someone recently commented on the fact that I don’t blog so often nowadays. There’s certainly plenty to blog about (for example, “when did the word “blog” become a verb as well as a noun?”) so I’ve no shortage of subject matter. But – for want of a better way of putting it – I seem to have lost my blogging mojo.

I think it happened late last summer when my mother died. It’s as though someone pulled the plug on my desire to talk to the world – time was I used to write 2 or 3 blogs a week and was never short of things to say! But during the past six months, it’s been an effort to write something even once a month. I can, nowadays, fully understand the phrase “writer’s block” and how difficult it must be for authors trying to find the words for the next book or article. Technical stuff isn’t the problem; it’s the chatty, every day stuff that seems to be difficult. And I think that’s what blogs are really – your own openline to the online world where you get to share your thoughts and opinions.

Anyway I’ve noticed a couple of things over recent weeks – the days are getting just that bit longer and the gardens are starting to show their first shoots of spring flowers, so I’m hoping that these portents of warmer, lighter days to come will help lift the block and I’ll feel like chatting to the world again more often.

Either way, hope you’re having a good week.

Marie