[Gllug] Tax returns on linux

[Mark Preston]

Alain Williams wrote:
>One problem with this was the UK Government portal where you are able
>to submit tax forms online. AFIR you could only do so from a M$ machine
>since they used proprietary M$ protocols. I don't know if this is
>still the case.

There is an excellent article written by David Chan which deals with 
this subject in issue 32 of Linux User and Developer 
magazine. Basically, under Linux you could submit a tax return provided 
you chose to use ID and password rather than digital signature. The 
governments own GGSec signature library was Windows-only and depended 
heavily on Microsoft XML libraries. The update to 
fix this problem and make the site work using off the shelf XML 
signature libraries was due some time in 2004. I presume therefore that this is now no longer a problem. 
Some parts of the Government Gateway such as CAP grant applications used to require  digital 
signatures, but fortunately? for taxpayers this was not essential.

There is an article in issue 44 of Linux User and Developer magazine 
by frank T Pohlmann about PayThyme and payrollBash. This outlines accountancy and software standards
that have to be satisfied for IR payroll approval.
Regards,
Mark Preston

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