The new tax collectors

Come the end of September, days and nights are of equal length for the second time in the year. It’s the equinox. Then darkness sets in earlier and earlier each day. This darkness provides insight into the economy. It tells you which companies are still working late at night: the lights are still on for bookkeepers, accountants and tax consultants who are filing tax returns. Even at weekends, their lights are still burning during that period, although this is less noticeable.

But is that still necessary in 2021? Aren’t we going through a complete digital transformation? Is this possible in times when stress management is central, burnout is one of the most important occupational diseases and workable work has become an essential human right? Workable work stands for quality work, according to the government. Work you are passionate about and that allows you to grow. It is work in balance with your private life. It won’t stress you out and it won’t make you sick. A workable job is a nice job that you can keep for a long time.

Don’t ask your bookkeeper, accountant or tax consultant today if he or she has a workable job. You would be rubbing salt in the wound. In the autumn they have to work double shifts and more to get the work done. An outsider might ask whether this has to do with inefficiency rather than obligation. Professionals are supposed to have submitted their returns by early November. That’s more than ten months into the assessment year.

Yet, the idea that they have more than ten months to complete the declaration does not correspond to the reality. Tax-on-web, the online facility used to file the personal income tax return digitally, is not provided before May. Updates to that application keep being sent for several months after that. Adjustments are made with each of those updates, with the result that no final return can actually be submitted. The tax return includes figures from sheets prepared by various government departments. It is not unusual for the government to upload the last sheets at the end of June.

However, no one will deny that the tax society plays a vital role in collecting the country’s revenue. The fact that it is confronted with a veritable laundry list of obstacles leads to understandable complaints: the glitches in the Tax-on-web portal, the government’s appalling communication on these issues, the increased administrative obligations (such as the DAC6 and UBO register), and the converging dates for the quarterly VAT returns, personal income tax returns and annual accounts.