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Any taxpayers using versions of Netscape Navigator prior to 4.06 cannot access the IRD IR-File system from 1st January 2000. On clicking the IR-File link from the
IRD website Netscape displays this message 
On then clicking any of the buttons on the message, the following is shown on the IRD web site HTTP Error 403
403.5 Forbidden: SSL 128 required
This error message indicates that the resource you are trying to access is secured
with a 128-bit version of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). In order to view this resource, you need a browser that supports this level of SSL.
Please confirm that your browser supports 128-bit SSL security. If it does, then contact the Web server's administrator and report the problem.
On contacting the Telecom / EDS / Microsoft alliance that runs the IR-File help desk we were told to 'install Microsoft instead'.
We were not impressed with this response, and asked for someone in authority to call back. We were called back, and told that we must download a version of Netscape 4.06 or later. The caller also confirmed that the IRD had known of
this problem for some time, but had kept it to themselves because 'only about 2% of our clients are affected'. Your Legal Obligations
The legislation requires you to file electronically in the format prescribed by the IRD, who claim to also have the power to insist you lodge your returns via the internet.
On page 4 of their IR343 booklet explaining electronic filing, the third attempt of which was published in March 1999, their specification for browsers is
You will need Internet Explorer 4 or higher, or Netscape Navigator 4 or higher. If you have an earlier version of either of these browsers, the latest versions can be downloaded from the Internet. The only cost will be download time.
In other words, even assuming the IRD does have the power to insist you lodge your returns via the internet, their system does not work with the browsers they specify.
We believe you have two choices -
If you want to comply with your obligations, and also feel it is your duty to
accommodate the ineptitude of the IRD, set aside a few hours and download a version of Netscape 4.06 or later, install it, learn it and possibly sort out any settings that may have changed. As the IRD says, the 'only' cost will be your time.
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If you want to comply with your obligations to the letter, and no more, we believe you would be within your rights to send the IRD printed monthly schedules until
such a time as they revise their specifications. Contitutional Issues
Ace Payroll is concerned about the constitutional issues involved in the
whole IR-File system, to the extent that we made a submission to the select committee inquiring into the powers and operation of the IRD.
For over 15 years we have been amazed at the very conscientious manner in which employers endeavour to fulfill their tax obligations. We can't help wondering how many more impediments need to be put in their way for these attitudes to change.
The constitutional issues raised by this new fiasco are Lack of Consultation
At the select committee hearing in July 1999 Dr Michael Cullen asked whether there had been any consultation with the IRD before the introduction of IR File, to which we
replied there had not. He shook his head in mock disapproval. Dr Cullen, you are now the main man and there is still no consultation, in spite of the IRD saying they have known about this problem for some time.
Compulsion
This problem has arisen due to an unforseen Y2K problem that has affected many hundreds of web sites - Hotmail, ASB Bank and Paradise to name a few.
With all these other sites, users have a choice whether they want to access them. If they experience problems, it is their choice to do whatever is necessary to
maintain access. Ultimately they can choose to not bother. At the select commitee hearing Ian Revell, National's former Northcote MP, asked me if I owned a
microwave oven, suggesting that being forced to pay my taxes via the internet was very similar. To demonstrate his ignorance he said, 'all you do is attach a file to an email, and click send'. Fortunately Rodney Hide pointed out that none
of us were legally obliged to use a microwave oven. Unhealthy Alliances
What appears to be the IRD help desk is in fact an alliance of Telecom, EDS and
Microsoft. The IRD only pay the bills. Today's advice to install a Microsoft product to rectify the problem is a clear indication of things to come.
We are very concerned about the power of these four organizations to manipulate circumstances to suit their own purposes.
Again at the select committee hearing the IRD claimed to have been empowered to insist on receiving returns via the internet by legislation passed in 1994 - well before the internet existed as we know it.
Interestingly, Telecom use the exact reverse of this logic to default on the Kiwi Share agreement and introduce call charging for residential internet
access. They say that because the internet did not exist when the Kiwi Share was negotiated, it does not apply to internet access. More Information
Further technical information is available from the Sun-Netscape Alliance web site. In you want to comment on this report please
email our editor directly. | 
File already exists error