Notes for submitting a return under Section 16 of the Taxes Management Act on a spreadsheet general (5FA)
Updated 17 August 2016
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This information is now obsolete. Please read Notes for submitting a return under paragraph 1, schedule 23 of the Finance Act 2011, fees and commissions general (FAC) for further information.
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
HMRC prefer to receive your return on a spreadsheet, to help with this HMRC have set up a pre-formatted Microsoft Excel spreadsheet which you can download to your computer. The template should ensure your return fits HMRC format and so can be successfully captured. Follow the guidance notes below and in the comments boxes linked to the headings on the template.
When you have opened the spreadsheet, save it to your computer hard drive before you start compiling your return.
To use the template
Open the Section 16 Taxes Management Act spreadsheet template.
Save the spreadsheet to your computer using the filename shown in your notice.
Use the saved spreadsheet to compile your return. Follow the guidance below and in the yellow comments boxes on the spreadsheet itself.
Example of a return
Open an example of a completed Section 16 Taxes Management Act 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 - (further details on SET)
- on computer disk (CD) - HMRC can accept a CD or a floppy disk posted to them, 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 payee’s address use the 5 fields provided, showing each part of the address in a separate field. For example:
| Address 1 | Address 2 | Address 3 | Address 4 | Address 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillcrest Cottage | Mountain View | Watchgate | Kendal | Cumbria |
| 2 Speyside Avenue | Hillington | Basingstoke | Hants |
Start in the ‘Address 1’ field and leave any unused fields blank, 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.
Your return requires a ‘payment description’ for each payee, show 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 British digital date format (for example, 4 October 2010 should be entered as 04/10/2010).
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.