HMRC has announced that it has agreed a deal with a provider of open banking services, with the aims of making its payment processes more efficient and cutting down on mistakes.

The tax department stated last autumn that it was seeking a financial technology (fintech) provider to help revolutionise the way it accepts payments of monies owed by taxpayers. This was put out for competitive tender. Now, it has been confirmed that Ecospend, a start-up company that offers fintech services, has been handed the lucrative contract, which is worth £3 million.

The company said that its job would be to transform the HMRC payment process, making it more automated and simpler, so that the number of mistakes made and frauds committed could be reduced to a minimum.

The hope is that the new payments system will also cut costs for the department and make life easier for business owners and others who have to use it.

The software developed by Ecospend for transferring money from one account to another will now be installed. This sees taxpayers send their payments straight from their account via details validated by HMRC – helping to avoid errors caused by references not being accurate. Eliminating the requirement for bank information to be shared will make it much harder for criminals to commit cyber fraud.

While this new system will undoubtedly make the process of payments easier for both individual taxpayers and HMRC, mistakes can also be avoided if people use an accountant qualified to handle tax return services in Doncaster, or wherever they live.