Duplicate self assessment registration

Received £1200 penalty notice for a duplicate registration

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Registered client mid-November 2015 for 5th April 2015 return.  UTR received on 30th November (quick) and return filed on that day.  Out of the blue, our client gets a £1200 penalty letter from HMRC on 3rd January 2017.  The UTR is different and so is part of the post code.  As no 64-8 in place for this UTR, asked client to phone HMRC.  After braving the voice mail system, first thing our client hears is "are you phoning about a duplicated self assessment registration?"   This makes me believe that there are others out there who will also have received £1200 penalty notices.  This was the first my client had heard of the duplicated UTR.  No notices of registration or to submit a return were received.  It is appalling that the first contact is a £1200 penalty letter.  Needless to say the client was initially shocked, until I was able to provide the assurance that the 2015 return was correctly filed and that this was an HMRC error.  Anyone else had a similar experience?

Replies (6)

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By bernard michael
05th Jan 2017 14:16

It happened to me personally 2 years ago. They eventually cancelled the 2nd one after stating that I should use the new one. I told them to bog off and it worked

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RLI
By lionofludesch
05th Jan 2017 15:40

One vote for no.

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By raybackler
11th Jan 2017 08:57

UPDATE:

Client has had a letter dated 4th January 2017 with statement dated 5th January 2017 saying £1200 penalties removed and the newer tax reference is to be used and the old one has been removed. There is no mention of what has happened to the 2015 and 2016 returns filed under the old reference.

Next day a penalty notice for £100 arrives dated 3rd January for failure to submit a 2016 tax return. This is under the newer UTR, but I don't understand how it can be created when the deadline is 31st January?

Trying to register as an agent under either reference fails, so I can't talk to HMRC.

Anyone any clues?

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By SteveHa
11th Jan 2017 09:06

For future reference, you can still deal with it by phone. Simply use the reference that you are authorised for to go through security, and then inform them of the duplicate UTR.

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By raybackler
12th Jan 2017 15:03

Hi SteLacca,

I wasn't authorised for the earlier reference, because when I tried last year it failed. I should have followed up at the time, but it would have meant getting my client to call HMRC and I was able to file the return under my practice registration. I guess the duplicated reference was somehow interfering with the earlier reference as they would have had the same NI number. It only became clear when the £1200 fine arrived. Anyway the client has now called HMRC and been exposed to what we go through on a daily basis with them.

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By colyafa
01st Mar 2017 15:32

We are getting a number of complaints from clients for pentalty of late filing tax return due to "duplicated UTR" cases in the recent weeks, and I beleive more to follow. It seemed that something wrong with The Revenue's system (computised or human) that duplciated UTR set up through linking the tax payers' NI no. The Revenue should have an thorough investigation into why this is happening. This is wasting everybody time and puting the accountants' competency in dealing with clients' tax return in question. Another [***] up with The Revenue ~AGAIN!!!

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