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BuzzJack Music Forum _ News and Politics _ Could robots check your tax return?

Posted by: vidcapper 22nd March 2018, 07:21 AM

Could robots check your TAX RETURN? HMRC says it wants AI to monitor 'compliance' with the law

Senior HMRC official says it is engaged in a huge drive to automate systems
Suggests AI technology could be used to check 'compliance' with tax laws
Accountancy said to be one of the professions at risk from rise of the robots

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5527789/Can-robots-check-TAX-RETURNS-HMRC-wants-AI-monitor-compliance.html

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Have our tax checked by cold unfeeling robots - so what's new?

Posted by: Popchartfreak 22nd March 2018, 07:25 AM

...and suddenly IT experts find their tax exposure greatly reduced...

great idea

Posted by: Suedehead2 22nd March 2018, 04:18 PM

If all it does is highlight a potential issue which is then investigated by a qualified tax officer, it could be a good idea. However, if large numbers of tax returns are cleared by AI without any human intervention, there is clearly a risk that accountants will soon learn how to fool the system. I can see potential in the idea, but I'm not convinced we'll there yet.

Posted by: 5 Silas Frøkner 22nd March 2018, 07:17 PM

Making Tax Digital is all about using tax to empower HMRC to more readily find issues. This is the next logical step. Calling it AI is a bit of a misnomer at the moment. Software Robotics, also known as RPA - Robotic Process Automation, is where a robot takes over certain processes within the business freeing up staff to do other value adding activities. RPA can be used to validate returns, check for errors etc. all basic tasks that are so repetitive and monotonous that they have a higher risk of human error. Other things RPA can do is pattern matching (ie this return is unlike the others), flagging errors or things for investigation. This second set of tasks is known as Assisted Automation because it takes over part of a process and gives the user the information far quicker than they could do it alone, allowing them to get on with the interrogation of the data and results.

RPA is nothing to be scared of and HMRC are slow on the ball with this and technology in general. My firm are helping a lot of companies get into robotics and I was in Germany a couple of months ago giving a presentation at an indirect tax conference on this