Since the1980s, citizens’ relationship with the tax system has changed almost beyond recognition, with mountains of paperwork replaced by a handheld digital device from which everything can be virtually managed

As he leaves government’s tax agency after more than 40 years of service, outgoing HM Revenue and Customs boss Sir Jim Harra has cited digital progress as perhaps the biggest area of change during his time in government.

Having joined the then Inland Revenue in 1984, Harra (pictured above) is retiring this month and leaving the HMRC chief executive role he has held for the past six years. He does so having witnessed “immense” changes, the outgoing CEO said in an exclusive interview with PublicTechnology sister publication Civil Service World.

After arriving at “a hugely paper-based organisation based in hundreds of little local offices… today, we have 14 regional centres and a few specialist sites, and are dealing with a much larger tax system with far fewer staff”, he added.

Perhaps the biggest force underpinning this evolution is that of technological development – and the rise of digital self-service capabilities.

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“When I joined the Inland Revenue, as it then was, taxpayers couldn’t deal directly with the tax system; they had to deal with civil servants who intermediated between them and the tax system,” Harra said. “Whereas today, they can just go online and do things for themselves.”

This includes an HMRC app which last year racked up 100 million user sessions. The departing tax chief cites the emergence of access to the tax system via handheld devices as one change he could possibly not have foreseen when he arrived in 1984 – for what was only intended to be a summer job.

“The idea that you could do your tax return and pay your tax on your phone, I would never have dreamed in 1984 that you could do that,” he said.

Improving and expanding its digital services – and supplementing them with “really skilled advisers who deal with people who need extra help” – will remain a major area of focus for the department, Harra predicted.