Kainos to develop digital taxation systems with Welsh Revenue Authority

Date posted
3 August 2017
Reading time
3 Minutes

Kainos to develop digital taxation systems with Welsh Revenue Authority

The Welsh Revenue Authority, which will be established in the autumn, has chosen Kainos to help design, build and implement a digital system to support its operation. From April 2018, Wales will have its own taxes to replace UK Stamp Duty Land Tax and Landfill Tax. In readiness for this, the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016 provides powers to establish devolved tax arrangements. The first of the devolved taxes are Land Transaction Tax (LTT), replacing UK Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and Landfill Disposals Tax (LDT), replacing UK Landfill Tax (LfT). The Welsh Government is in the process of setting up a new organisation, the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA), to manage and collect devolved taxes from April 2018. It will be the first non-ministerial government department created by the Welsh Government and over the next three years it will collect more than £1bn in tax revenues, which will be vital for the ongoing funding of public services in Wales. Kainos will be responsible for building a digital tax collection and management system for LTT and LDT using an underlying scalable Microsoft Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution. Kainos will adopt an Agile delivery approach aligned with the current Welsh Government Digital Strategy. This iterative approach to development, incorporating user feedback at every stage, will ensure delivery of a quality solution. Russell Sloan, Divisional Director at Kainos commented: 'Digitisation of tax collection and management for LTT and LDT will go a long way towards improving the ease of collecting tax revenue in Wales. It is a true testament to the power of digital technology and will be an example to other public sector bodies. We very much look forward to kicking off the project and collaborating with the Welsh Revenue Authority to develop a new way of working.'