It is such a shame that as yet, the Governments various intertwining bodies do not join up in sharing information.
The Data Protection Act, much like Health and Safety advice can be taken to strictly, resulting in little or no information being shared when it would actually benefit the customer.
An example for us is our accounts. We are a registered charity (England and Wales) so our accounts have to be submitted to the Charity Commission. Our legal framework is a company limited by guarantee (no share capital) so we also have to submit the same accounts to Companies House. In addition, because it is a company (in name) the same accounts also have to be submitted to HM Revenue and Customs.
Each has their own way of doing it.
For the Charity Commission will simply log on and upload a pdf file of the accounts, which over time will then appear on our listing on their web site.
For Companies House the accounts can again be submitted online, though in our case our accountant is sending them direct.
HMRC need the accounts sent as well, and again they can be done online or by post.
What a shame that it cannot be sent to one of them, and the information shared to interested parties.
Of a more frustrating concern is that HMRC does not accept the charity being registered with the Charity Commission as proof it is actually a charity. So we have to complete a form of dozen pages, send them the same Memorandum and Articles of Association that were also sent to both the Commission and Companies House, a copy of our accounts (ditto), and examples of our charitable activities. They then decide whether we charitable and can claim Gift Aid.
I understand both the tax code and the Charity Commission are reviewing practices, but I guess it would somewhat stretching it to believe that joined-up government would come from this.
