Re Scott's question my accountant told me that with paper returns only some of the data is populated, whereas with online returns it is all populated.ursaminortaur wrote:Yes, nowadays a scan would likely involve using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to read the individual letters and numbers entered on the paper form which can then be input into the same database that an online form would put the entered data. Occasional manual intervention might be required if the software cannot distinguish the character but such systems have vastly improved over time and fully manual entry would usually only be required for more unstructured documents with handwritten cursive content.swill453 wrote: I'd be massively surprised if all the data in a paper submission doesn't get added to the same database that electronic submissions go into. Whether this is automated or manual, or a combination of both, it's still a pretty trivial task.
Did your acquaintance definitively state this doesn't happen?
OCR might have improved since then and so there may be more data populated for paper returns now. But it can never be 100%, and OCR interpretation will surely lead to more errors and more manual intervention. There is a reason the taxman wants you to file online but whether it is in your interests to do so is another matter.