Almost 60,000 people have told the tax office they wish to continue communicating about their tax affairs by letter.

Last October the law was changed, allowing the government to replace letter post with email communications and the tax office announced it planned to phase out its famous blue envelopes over a period of years.

But so far, tens of thousands of people have said they want to continue to receive letters because they don’t have the digital skills to make their tax returns online.

A tax office spokesman said the department processes 12 million tax returns a year and 98% are now dealt with digitally.