From today (1 April 2011) companies in the UK are required to submit their annual Tax Returns electronically.

Each year for the past decade, dealing with the annual accounts has involved the following steps:

1. our accountants email a set of draft accounts for approval;
2. we approve the accounts;
3. the accountants post us the approved set of accounts for signature;
4. we sign the accounts;
5. we post the signed accounts back to the accountants;
6. the accountants finalise and post the signed accounts on to the tax authorities.

This year the process was:

1. the accountants email a set of draft accounts for approval;
2. we approve the accounts;
3. the accountants finalise and file the accounts online.

Now let's hope the new Office for Tax Simplicification can come up with some equally effective measures for making the taxes themselves less complex.