Web tax form shut after user details 'put online'

The Inland Revenue has shut off its online tax filing system because of complaints that taxpayers' details were accidentally released on the internet. The self-assessment online service has been suspended since Monday, after users filling in the forms said they had seen information that could have come from other users.

The problems are a serious embarrassment for the service, which is being viewed as a testbed for online submission of tax-sensitive information by other government departments such as Customs and Excise. Experts from the Revenue and its computer partner, Electronic Data Systems, are trying to reproduce the problem so they can identify it. Alex Miller, at Accountancy Age magazine, said: "There's already a great feeling of fear among accountants about this. There was no rush before to start using it, and this will slow take-up even more."

The online service is already struggling to justify its cost. Only 75,000 people have signed up to use the system, which requires cumbersome registration procedures involving "digital certificates" inaccessible to most businesses. Nine million people and businesses use paper-based self-assessment.