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HMRC makes it easier to get SA302 forms

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11th Jun 2015
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People who are self employed and need evidence of their earnings for mortgage and loan applications will find it easier to get the information after changes to the paperwork, HMRC has said.

Accountants have long complained that getting a paper copy of HMRC's SA302 form (a summary of a tax year, including earnings) was a hassle and could take up to 14 working days.

AccountingWEB members recently said they had been told that the procedure had been improved.

HMRC has confirmed this. It said it listened to the criticism and improved its self assessment online documentation so that "lenders may consider them as evidence of income declared to HMRC and to meet the Financial Conduct Authority challenge over the robustness of the tax calculation".

HMRC also said it has improved its online ‘tax calculation’ feature which shows the breakdown of the income returned on the customer's tax return, including commercial versions, and the ‘tax year overview’, which confirms the tax due from the return submitted to HMRC and shows any payments made, cross-referencing the tax calculation with HMRC records.

Replies (18)

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By Roland195
11th Jun 2015 11:27

Not the problem

Although I am glad to see HMRC has improved this area, getting them to send an SA302 is only a minor issue in light of the bigger problem of why the FCA latched on to the idea that this is a suitable form of evidence for the self employed.

 

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Chris M
By mr. mischief
11th Jun 2015 11:55

CML

HMRC and Council of Mortgage lenders have agreed that you don't need a paper SA302 any more, just the calculation page plus tax summary page.

I now have a standard QA document for lenders who don't know this, the main part goes like this:

"1.  Please confirm in writing that you are insisting on an SA302 despite this being agreed by the CML as no longer being required.

2.  Please supply your name and branch address so I can include this in my letter to the CML explaining that you are not following their agreed process."

So far I have used this twice.  I have not heard anything further from the lenders and the mortgages have been approved.  Job's a good 'un!

Thanks (8)
Replying to mr. mischief:
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By Phoenix999
20th Jul 2017 11:13

I Find this fascinating so what you are saying is the only evidence required is the calculation page and tax summary. Is that right and if so? Then why show any bank statements at all?

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By jon_griffey
11th Jun 2015 15:44

That doesn't help at all

If you use 3rd party tax software as agents mostly do then you still can't print off the tax calculation.

IS PROVIDING THIS FUNCTIONALITY BEYOND THE WIT OF HMRC?

Sorry for shouting but the whole process is increasingly frustrating and wasting a lot of time as it seems like everybody is applying for a mortgage at the moment.

Here is a selection of what happened this past week:

-Coventry Building Society clearly stated on their documents 'Assessments printed from the HMRC website are not acceptable'.

- Natwest would not accept the faxed SA302's on my file and insisted I request posted ones.  Clearly I am not trusted not to forge them.

-A good 40% of the SA302's either faxed or posted never turned up and had to be requested again.

-on one occasion HMRC randomly refused to fax them - insisting on posting them.

 

Thanks (3)
PJ
By paulgrca.net
11th Jun 2015 16:49

What improvement!

See the posts above to which I could add many other cases!

Thanks (1)
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By VickyP
12th Jun 2015 13:54

SA 302's

I called the Revenue this morning to request last 3 years for a client and they were faxed to me just before lunch.  I definitely call that an improvement.

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By Swedish Chef
12th Jun 2015 16:07

One lender......

.....refused to accept them because HMRC sent them to us and had our address on the covering letter - even though each SA302 clearly showed the taxpayer name and UTR.

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By MarkKing
15th Jun 2015 12:29

Redacted UTR

Has anyone come across HMRC agreeing to fax them through with the UTR redacted followed by an original (not redacted) in the post?

I have had this a few times now and never understood it. I used my clients UTR to clear the security checks as agent so you know I already have this information. Why redact it??

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By Mikeparr
15th Jun 2015 13:21

What is the point of an SA302 when the mortgage advisor and / or building society in a recent request did not understand why the figures are different to the signed accountants certificate and therefore refused a mortgage application on these grounds .

 

 

 

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By miketombs
15th Jun 2015 13:38

Not as bad in my experience

The changes to HMRC's online filing won't help at all for those of us (95% of accountants at least, I would guess) who use 3rd party software, but to be fair to HMRC they are really quick sending out the SA302 forms - they quote 'up to fourteen days' but it's normally a week at the most. It may be the only thing they are quick at, but creditt where credit is due.

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By calculus.accountants
15th Jun 2015 14:02

best no to ring for sa302
i need to request 3 years SA392 for a client - luckily before now got away with sets of accounts and p60's. Can anyone confirm whether its best to call the agents dedicated line or some other no to speed up the process.

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Replying to Accountant A:
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By martinatal
15th Jun 2015 14:34

Agents dedicated line

For SA302s call the Agents' dedicated line. I have found this to be quick and relatively efficient. I normally receive the SA302s by post within a working week.

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By daymar
15th Jun 2015 22:57

HMRC have improved considerably on this

I have needed three years of SA302s for two clients in the last fortnight, and in both cases they were faxed to me within a couple of hours of my telephone request via the agent dedicated line. Credit where credit s due !

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By westdeep
16th Jun 2015 08:19

Email

Why oh why can't HMRC send out an email immediately from a no reply address. Now that really would be joining the real world.

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By Lynneash
17th Jun 2015 16:07

Who pays for all this

Why does no one consider the cost to the taxpayer, ie me and everyone else? HMRC are acknowledged to have huge backlogs and not enough staff but we are paying them to produce SA302's and tax calculations and then we are paying for the postage when they are sent out. Why should all of the taxpaying population pay for something only needed by a small percentage? And why can't they accept the "overview" that can be printed from the client page on the Agents online service, although we did convince Barclays to do so last week. And finally, its called self assessment for a good reason - that's what it says on the tin. HMRC only print out what has been submitted but for some reason the lenders seems to think that guarantees that it is right!

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Chris M
By mr. mischief
18th Jun 2015 11:23

We as agents need to kick back on this

In my view there is no point in [***] about this if we are all going to just sit there and take it.

See my earlier post in this thread.  If enough agents do this, these box-tickers in bank branches will wake up and stop asking for the SA302s.

Most of my limited company director clients are not in self-assessment.  Why would you volunteer to be in it?  The banks and building societies are fine with the P60 and dividend vouchers in these cases, so why is that not the case where a director is in self-assessment?

 

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Replying to qhas:
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By BakerPringle
09th Sep 2015 11:33

Directors tax returns

mr. mischief wrote:

In my view there is no point in [***] about this if we are all going to just sit there and take it.

See my earlier post in this thread.  If enough agents do this, these box-tickers in bank branches will wake up and stop asking for the SA302s.

Most of my limited company director clients are not in self-assessment.  Why would you volunteer to be in it?  The banks and building societies are fine with the P60 and dividend vouchers in these cases, so why is that not the case where a director is in self-assessment?

 

This begs the question, if they don't receive dividend income of over 10k (5k from April next year), a requirement of which it is to complete a tax return, why are they a ltd company?

 

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By pstoneman
05th Oct 2016 11:38

My local Lloyds Bank in Bourne, Lincolnshire have refused to accept the Self Serve Option even after I emailed confirmation to them that Lloyds Bank were on the list of Lenders signed up to this scheme. Perhaps the memo takes longer to remote banks!!

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