Written question asked by Justine Greening (Conservative) on Thursday, 13 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 18 November 2008. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Monday, 24 November 2008 on behalf of the Treasury.

Taxation: Self-assessment

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on which dates since September 2008 the HM Revenue and Customs online self-assessment tax pages have not had a full service available; for how long on each occasion; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: [holding answer 18 November 2008]: HMRC's online services—including the Self Assessment service—are not available when HMRC and/or the Government Gateway need to upgrade their online systems. The Self Assessment service was not available on the following dates since September 2008:"1-2 September from 20:00 to 05.15, a total of nine hours and 15 minutes.""5-8 September from 19.30 to 06.00, a total of 58 hours and 30 minutes.""10 September from 0.00 to 06.00, a total of six hours.""6 October from 02.00 to 05.00, a total of three hours.""9 October from 22.04 to 22.18, a total of 14 minutes""17-18 October from 20.00 to 01.33, a total of five hours and 33 minutes""24-27 October from 06.00 to 6.00, a total of 72 hours.""30 October from 22.00 to 23.30, a total of one hour and 30 minutes.""1 November from 02.00 to 22.00, a total of 20 hours""6-7 November from 23.53 to 8.20, a total of eight hours and 27 minutes.""10 November from 06.30 to 10.15, a total of three hours and 45 minutes""11-12 November from 22.00 to 04.20, a total of six hours and 20 minutes."The majority of downtime is scheduled to minimise impact on customers, for example overnight, and to avoid peak times such as the lead up to the online Self Assessment filing deadline. HMRC warns its customers in advance of such downtime.

Secondary information