UTR Duplication. Another persons tax return logged against my UTR for 3 years - any idea how?

UTR Duplication. Another persons tax return...

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After becoming self-employed, I submitted my first tax return (paper) for 05-06, and encountered no problems in it's processing. For the following 06-07 year, I engaged the services of an accountant who submitted online.  He experienced problems in submitting online and for each year since, when going to submit my return online, HMRC claims to have received my tax return (when I haven't submitted anything or furnished my accountant with the details to do so on my behalf) and that I am due a repayment. I had my UTR when I first approached the accountant and can confirm that it has not changed since.

So, for 07-08 the accountant submitted an amended return post 31st Jan 09 deadline. Following several letters explaining the situation, asking for confirmation of my UTR and the removal of penalties and interest (due to the mystery return logged against my UTR, my payments on account were refunded to the accountant, the amended return would then be submitted, my money sent from the accountant back to HMRC...they would say I have paid late, so additional charges were applied) we received no response.

Now more educated in self-assessment and confident that my record keeping etc was up to date, I had wished to complete my return for 08-09 personally. I got my online log in number sent to me but upon logging into the HMRC website, I could see that they again claimed to have received my return and there was no option for me to submit my real return.  So, I decided to engage the accountants services again as he had agreed to submit my return (amended online or paper) and deal with HMRC to sort out the mystery returns logged in my name. Following further letters, we received two letters in 2010 noting that 'I can confirm that your client's UTR is **********', and another saying that they 'have decided, on this occasion, that we no longer need payment of the interest'. Neither contained any explanation about how the whole situation may have occurred, though I assumed that whatever it was, it had been sorted out.

Going online in December 10 to submit my return 09-10 return, I was disappointed to see that HMRC had 'received my return on the 9th Dec'. Now desperate to sort the problem out (and not trouble my accountant who I did not intend to pay for that years preparation of my s.a form and as far as I was aware, had made every reasonable effort to point out and resolve HRMC's error), I made an appointment at my local HMRC enquiry office to hopefully address the problem in person. I expected this saga to be due to a computer error (perhaps a blank return being automatically logged against my return) or involve the details of another individual elsewhere in the country with whom I have no connection whatsoever. The HMRC office accessed my computer records and produced three tax returns for 06-07, 08-09 & 09-10 for another individual, different NI number, born 20 years before myself. I was astounded to see that this individual was a client of the same (small, two person firm) accountant I had been employing to prepare my returns since 06-07. I saw some of this individuals details, like NI number, and basic income details, and employer name on screen but the office would not let me leave with a print out due to data protection. They said the whole situation had arisen by the accountant mistakenly processing his other clients’ return against my UTR. They claimed that the HMRC system would allow this when logging in with UTR and postcode but not UTR and NI number. They said they would accept a paper return from me for the approaching 31st of Jan without penalty and would see that this other individual’s returns were removed from my file. My true returns were also available to view for each of the 3 years and the payments made and received are all correctly logged against my name and are for the true return/figures.

I immediately informed the partner of the accountant in person that there was a significant connection with the source of the mystery return and that I would like to speak to him. I heard nothing for a week so again went into the office to discuss. My accountant claimed that HMRC had issued the same UTR to two individuals (as he believed all along), and that it was coincidence that those two individuals with the same UTR had both engaged his services. He claimed that his software system, 'IRIS', would simply not allow him to submit to HMRC his other clients return with my UTR. Is this true? When I gave details of the other individuals’ returns, we established that he was indeed a client and that his surname is the first four letters of my surname, which further suggests to me the possibility that the accountant has made a significant error in perhaps copying/pasting from his client database. Upon looking at his file, I learned that the accountant began acting for him in the same year as myself, and that several letters to HMRC requesting his UTR had went unanswered. So, there was no document in his file confirming what his UTR was (I looked through it along with the accountant), though the accountant insisted that it as the same as mine. Nevertheless, we never established where he had found out what Mr. ****'* UTR is.

I had a further meeting at HMRC where we completed fresh paper copies of my true previous returns so the record could be cleared and the new paper returns could be put on my computer file. They are very sympathetic to me but insist that the fault is with the accountant - they also wonder why the accountant, in the process of submitting amended returns, had not realised his apparent mistake. I gather that his other client's tax returns, logged against my UTR, are now subject to penalties and interest. Indeed, how would 3 years worth of essentially unsubmitted returns not have prompted HMRC to send reminders etc to the accountant on his client's behalf?

Considerably stressed and inconvenienced over a long period of time, I wish to be certain who is responsible, and take appropriate action. I would very much welcome any comments and advice from those more familiar with such matters, who perhaps use the IRIS software and know what it would and would not allow a user to submit to HMRC. Thank you very much for taking the time to read such a lengthy account.

Posts I read and thought may be relevant:

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/item/186294

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/anyanswers/hmrc-computer-problems

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/anyanswers/more-revenue-incompetence

Replies (4)

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Euan's picture
By Euan MacLennan
23rd Feb 2011 10:22

IRIS

Anybody who has bought third party software, such as IRIS, can submit a tax return by internet for anyone else, without necessarily being appointed as that person's agent.

In IRIS, you enter the individual's UTR manually as part of the individual's master record.  It would be unusual, if not impossible, to patch this in from some other database.  The individual's master record is effectively the IRIS database.  As far as I am aware, there is nothing in the software that checks whether a UTR has been duplicated.  So, it is entirely possible that your accountant has entered your UTR on someone else's record.

However, if you attempt to submit a second original tax return on the same UTR, the Revenue will reject it as a duplicate.  Yes, you can submit an amended return to replace the original, but you have to tell IRIS that it is an amended return and IRIS presumably includes the flag in the file it transmits so that the amended return will not be rejected.  IRIS reports immediately if the submission has been successful or not.

What puzzles me is why your accountant did not respond to the rejection when he submitted the second original return on the same UTR.  Perhaps he did, by changing it to an amended return.  If the other client's return was submitted second, this would explain why his details are on your record at the Revenue.  Or perhaps, if the other client's return was submitted first, he simply did not notice the rejection when submitting your original return later.

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By Fazioli
23rd Feb 2011 13:46

Reply

Thank you very much Euan. To answer your questions; as I understand it, the accountant did submit my returns as amendments. The other clients returns were submitted before mine every time , and remain on my file as of a month ago. I assume if I had been first, the problem would not have occured as it did.

The accountants explanation was that the Revenue had issued the same UTR to two taxpayers, and had to sort that out. I took this as genuine and  assumed that the other individual would be entierly unconnected, living elsewhere in the country etc. Hence my alarm in discovering that he was in fact a client of the same accountant and had a surname that was the first four letters of mine. Neverthless, the accountant does not admit to any mistake on his part and sought to demonstrate that IRIS would not allow him to mix up returns. I am grateful for your opinion in the use of that software Euan.

 

 

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By adam.arca
23rd Feb 2011 14:04

*

I don't use Iris, so can't comment on that. I do have a vague feeling, though, that the software I do use will not allow you to enter a duplicate UTR: I think I may inadvertently have tried to do that once myself.

Based on the OP, the accountant maybe does sound a little to blame here even if only for being a bit slow on the uptake but of course we don't know his side of the story.

However, aren't there two software issues here:

1. If tax software allows entry of duplicate UTRs, isn't that an oversight / glitch requiring rectification?

2. If I understand correctly, the accountant has submitted tax returns for client B (not the OP) using the OP's UTR and the Revenue have accepted these. That means there isn't a check in the Revenue software which refers the name and address details (DoB etc) of the submitted return to the UTR details they hold for consistency. That surely is a major lacuna as we all know how easy it is to transpose or otherwise incorrectly enter long numerical strings.

I therefore don't see why the OP needs to accept Revenue fobbing off in this case as they are at least guilty of contributory negligence.

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By GW
24th Feb 2011 12:07

Duplications

 

I agree with the previous replies. To illustrate the weakness in the system I have had two related problems:

A new client in a rush before 31st January, so before HMRC processed our agent authorisation the return was submitted online anyway. Unfortunately the client had given us his wife's UTR, different date of birth, different NI number. HMRC accepted the return anyway.

An older example – pre SA1. A new client came to us without a UTR wanting to put her affairs in order and declare property income going back two years. We submitted a paper 64-8 and the client duly appeared online, checking the record showed returns had been submitted for previous years. After many phonecalls and obtaining screen prints from HMRC of the earlier returns we discovered that our client Mrs XYZ was born on the same day as Miss XYZ although they had different middle names, NI numbers and addresses. HMRC had issued our client with a duplicate UTR.

Yet another example of HMRC's systems failing although it seems likely the accountant played his part

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