How to: Use e-government online services part 2

By Paul Marden

Over 4.1 million users are now registered to use the Government Gateway, the UK Government’s infrastructure for providing online services. There are many reasons for us to use these services; not least of which is that they can reduce the amount of work involved for us to interact with government, and in the long run it should save the government money. This series of articles aims to introduce the services currently available, as well as giving you more information about how to use them.

In the first e-government How To article we showed you how to register to use the Gateway and the services it supports. In this article we look at two of the services that most SMEs will be interested in; PAYE and Secure Mail. But first we review the latest Gateway news.

What’s new on the Government Gateway

Some major changes have taken place on the Gateway since our first article, especially with regard to Chambersign certificates. Two new services have also gone live.

Update on Digital Certificates

Since our first article on the subject of e-Government there has been a major shake up in the provision of digital certificates. These are files kept on a user’s PC and are used to unequivocally prove their identity to the Government. This change only affects users with certificates provided by Chambersign the British Chamber of Commerce.
A company called ViaCode originally supplied certificates sold by Chambersign. However, in the last couple of months they have been in the process of changing suppliers to the Royal Bank of Scotland RBS.

Actions for Chambersign Digital Certificate Customers

Existing Customers

The result of this change in suppliers has meant that all existing Chambersign customers who purchased ViaCode digital certificates must upgrade to the new RBS service. Indeed, old certificates ceased to operate on the Gateway on 6 October 2002. The upgrade is currently free, however after 30 November 2002 existing customers will have to re-register and pay a fee.
To migrate to the new service you will be required to follow a series of instructions, which can be obtained by email from info@chambersign.co.uk . You will also be required to complete a form which can be downloaded from the Chambersign website and post this to RBS.
If you require technical support you can contact Chambersign on 0800 587 1597. All other enquiries should be made by email to info@chambersign.co.uk .

New Customers At present Chambersign is not accepting new customers, however its Web site promises that they should be up and running in the near future. If you aren’t willing to wait, then your only course of action is to purchase your certificate from Equifax, instructions for which can be found in our October article

New Services

It’s now possible to apply for Child Tax Credits and Working Tax Credits from the Inland Revenue; for more information go to the Tax Credits homepage . The second service to go live since October is the Customs & Excise New Export system NES for traders to submit 3rd country Export Declarations to CHIEF, the customs declaration processing system. For more information go to the Customs & Excise Electronic Services Website .

Gateway Secure Mail

Traditional email seems to be the obvious choice for two-way communication between you and government. However, it has a number of drawbacks:

It cannot guarantee the security of the message whilst in transit,
It cannot guarantee that the message will be delivered, and that it will be delivered only to the intended recipient.

Gateway Secure Mail, which is the first service you have access to when registering for the gateway, addresses these drawbacks. It is the only safe way supported by the Gateway for departments to send messages to you, and for you to reply.

How to use Secure Mail

Using Secure Mail is very similar to using other Web based email systems such as Hotmail. Once you have logged into the gateway instructions for which can be found in our October article simply click on the Secure Mail button in the left-hand menu.
The Secure Mail Inbox displays all messages you have received, as shown in Figure 1 . To read any message in your Inbox, click on the appropriate link in the subject column. The message will then be displayed.
To send new mail, from the Inbox screen click on the "Create New Mail" button. This will present you with a page to write the message, much as you would in a normal email application. Its only major difference is that you don’t use an Internet email address. Instead, you must first select the service you are writing about e.g. if you had an enquiry about Self Assessment you would select the Internet Service for Self Assessment. You will then be presented with a series of available addresses to send the message to. You must then supply a subject line and then type your message into the main body.

Figure 1: Government Gateway Secure Mail Inbox

All messages you receive will remain in your Inbox until you delete them. Therefore you should ensure that you regularly delete messages you no longer need by selecting the tick box next to the message in the Inbox, then click "Delete Selected Mail"

Receiving Notification of New Mail

An important part of the terms and conditions you accepted when registering for the Gateway was that should a department send you a Secure Mail message they will assume you have read it in much the same way as when you sign for recorded delivery the sender can assume you have received the item and read it.
However, you are unlikely to log into the Gateway each day to check for new mail, therefore a facility has been provided so that a notification message can be sent to your normal Internet Email account. This message will simply inform you that new secure mail has arrived; you will only be able to view the secure message by logging into the Gateway. To configure email notification:
1. Click on the Your Details option in the left hand toolbar of any page on the gateway.
2. If the email address displayed on the Your Details page is incorrect click on the Change Details button, and update the email address.
3. Click on the Secure Mail button in the left hand toolbar, to return to the Secure Mail Inbox.
4. Click on the Mailbox Options button and ensure that the Email check box is ticked, if it isn’t tick it and click the Continue Button.
You should now receive an automated notification whenever you receive Secure Mail on the gateway.

Inland Revenue Internet Service for PAYE

The Internet Service for PAYE enables employers to submit and receive a number of standard forms and returns to the Inland Revenue. Examples of the common forms that you may send using the Internet service include:

P45
P35
P11D
For a full list of forms and returns that can be sent over the Internet go to the PAYE introduction webpage .
There are two main ways of submitting forms and returns to the Gateway service. Firstly, your accounts or payroll software may be capable of directly submitting returns, a list of compatible payroll software is available from the IR, or for more information see the section Submitting forms using your Payroll Software below.
Alternatively if you don’t use one of these compatible packages or you process your payroll manually, the IR provides a free Web based application called PAYE Online. More information about PAYE Online can be found on the IR Web site. To register to use the application go to https://www.ir-online.gov.uk/inland_revenue_paye/ .

Submitting forms using your Payroll Software

The actual method by which you will submit returns using your payroll software depends greatly on which package you currently use. However the general principle will be that you prepare the returns in the normal way, but rather than printing the forms and posting them you instead send them directly to the Internet Service.
Some payroll packages will require an upgrade or add-on utility to process your accounts and send them securely via the Internet. For example, Pegasus Opera PAYE users will need to use the Pegasus eSubmission Utility which comes free with the latest version and is also free to users with a current support contract with the company. For information about the Pegasus eSubmission Utility go to .
If you log into the gateway using a digital certificate then it’s worth checking if software is compatible before buying, as not all packages are capable of dealing with this relatively new technology.

In the normal course of filing returns online using the Internet Service for PAYE you may receive returns from the Revenue electronically. Current forms include;

P6 - Notice of an amended code

P6B - Notice of an amended code budget - non standard coding

P9 periodic - Notice of an amended code New tax year

P9 daily - notice of amended code for employees not included in P9 periodic
In addition to a number of notices and flyers such as P35N and P11DBN, more forms and notices will be added in the future.
These forms will be posted to your Secure Mailbox, and are thus accessible from the Gateway using the instructions given above. The IR has also published instructions to enable software providers to integrate the downloading of these into your accounts or payroll application, but we are unaware of any who currently provide this functionality.

Coming Soon

This article has given you some insight into Gateway Secure Mail and the Internet Service for PAYE. In future articles in this series on e-Government in the UK we will look at the Internet Service for Self Assessment and the Electronic VAT Return.

Sources

Paul Marden is a self employed Software Engineer specialising in distributed applications using Microsoft Technologies and Data Warehousing using Oracle.

Screen shots of Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 reproduced by permission from Microsoft Corporation.