Notes for submitting a return under Section 16 of the Taxes Management Act 1970, agency workers (1FA)
Updated 17 August 2016
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This information is now obsolete.
If you have received a notice under the above legislation you are legally obliged to make a return to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of the information specified in the notice. The notice explains more about this legal obligation and the type of information HMRC require from you.
Sending your Section 16 return to HMRC on a spreadsheet
HMRC would prefer to receive your return on a spreadsheet. To help you with this HMRC have set up a pre-formatted Excel spreadsheet which you can download to your computer. The template should help ensure your return fits HMRC format and so can be successfully captured. Please follow the guidance notes below and in the comments boxes linked to the headings on the template.
To use the template
Save the spreadsheet to your computer using the filename shown in your notice.
Use the saved spreadsheet to compile your return.
Open an example of a completed return
Submission methods
After you have compiled your return you must send it to HMRC by the date shown in your notice using one of the following methods:
- Secure Electronic Transfer (SET) - this is a secure online submission method through which you can send your spreadsheet return, note that to use SET you will need to buy a security certificate from an external provider - (further details on SET)
- on computer disk (CD) - you can save your return to a CD and post it with your declaration, HMRC is only responsible for the security of the data once they receive it so recommend that you consider taking steps to secure the data in transit
- if you cannot make your return on a spreadsheet please contact HMRC (contact details are on your notice) to discuss alternative methods
Compiling your spreadsheet return
Confine your return to a single worksheet in a Microsoft Excel workbook, don’t use multiple tabs.
Retain the headings shown on the template, the order of columns is important so follow the template. Don’t insert additional columns or delete any, if you do not have data to put into a column leave it blank.
When showing addresses enter the entire address in the field provided (but see below regarding postcodes), don’t use multiple fields or stack address lines one above the other, don’t use commas in any part of the address.
Enter the postcode in the dedicated column provided.
Show the total amount paid for the year to each recipient for the service they provided, don’t show individual payments or subtotals. Where a payee provided several different services please show the total amount paid for the year as a separate entry for each service provided.
Show a ‘payment description’ for each payee, this must be a meaningful description of the service provided by each recipient (for example, ‘Design Consultancy’ or ‘IT Services’). The wording must accurately describe the service provided, payment codes or generic descriptions (such as ‘Services’) are not acceptable.
Don’t use ‘lowercase l’ for 1 or ‘capital O’ for zero. When entering numbers use the digits 0 to 9 only and use a full stop as the decimal point where appropriate, don’t include commas, spaces or currency symbols within figures.
When entering dates use the format DD/MM/YYYY (for example, 4 October 2010 should be entered as 04/10/2010).
If your return exceeds 65,000 rows on a spreadsheet, split your return into separate spreadsheets, none of which should exceed 65,000 rows. Then send individual spreadsheets rather than use multiple tabs in a single spreadsheet.
Currency codes
The template needs you to enter a code for each amount to identify the appropriate currency. These currency codes are recognised internationally, commonly used currency codes are:
- UK sterling - GBP
- Euro - EUR
- United States dollar - USD
- Canadian dollar - CAD
- Australian dollar - AUD
If the currency code column in your return is blank HMRC will assume that the amounts are in UK sterling.
Contacts
If you need to contact HMRC about your return please use the contact details shown on your notice.