Accrued costs of £844,000 (in the period up to the end of 31 January 2007) break down as follows between three projects:
£50,000 spent by the HMRC Northern Ireland Overseas repayment unit on the introduction of scanning capacity for the processing of VAT reclaim forms and supporting documentation, helping to speed up processing and to prevent fraud.
£558,000 spent on a national project to enable the quicker closure of PAYE schemes when employers cease trading, improving the accuracy and generating efficiencies in the management of PAYE records.
£236,000 on a national project targeted at taxpayers for whom English is not a first language, enabling easier checking and payment of income tax liabilities, generating efficiencies in the reduction of taxpayer errors, and their subsequent correction.
As explained in a previous answer I gave on 31 January 2007, Official Report, column 342W, overall expenditure on the portfolio of projects in this scheme is intended to generate returns of 110 per cent. in terms of greater efficiency and reduced administration.