Guernsey politician calls for outsourcing of the island's tax and revenue services

A Guernsey politician wants the tax revenue service to be outsourced, after important notices on how much income tax people must pay were mistaken as scam emails.

Deputy Mark Helyar is arguing that Revenue Services is "chronically underperforming", adding the States of Guernsey is reluctant to "not only review the service it provides but also to outsource it".

He adds: "There are outsourcing entities that could be providing these services much more cheaply and more rapidly and efficiently."

His comments come after annual coding notices for 2025 were issued by email for the first time over the weekend.

However, some islanders mistook the email from Revenue Services as a scam due to its unexpected delivery.

This important document - which dictates to employers how much income tax an individual must pay - was deleted by many.

In other cases, the email was erroneously directed to spam folders.

Scam experts have suggested the email was exactly the type that should be deleted.

Information Security Consultant Nick Robilliard says: "If you're going to change your communication techniques, then taking time to set that up technically with your IT team to make sure that your emails are not going to be rejected by email filters is a good idea."

Deputy Helyar also voiced concerns about the backlog of tax returns dating back to 2020 that Revenue Services is currently dealing with.

He has now submitted official questions to Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee, asking for the exact amount of unpaid and outstanding tax the revenue services is owed.

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