Payments and Debt Programme: Harmonising payments – paper BACs refund remittances
Published 8 December 2022
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Project objectives
HMRC currently send an accompanying paper BACs refund remittance for electronic repayments of tax to Self Assessment and Corporation Tax customers and their representatives. This is a bespoke and legacy service not provided for the majority of other HMRC taxes. This service will cease.
Customer groups affected
- Self Assessment customers
- Corporation Tax customers
- Self Assessment agents
- Corporation Tax agents
What customers will need to do
What customers need to do as a result of the change
There is no requirement for the customer. Customers and/or agents can sign up for online service/Making Tax Digital to monitor their accounts.
How customers will access this service
If required, customers and/or agents can sign up for online service/Making Tax Digital to monitor their accounts. If customers receive a bacs refund into their bank account and they do not recognise/agree with the payment, they can contact HMRC either by phone or by using online services.
When customers need to do this
This service will cease in early 2023.
Assessing the impact
We assessed the equality impacts on all the protected characteristic groups in line with the Equality Act and Public Sector Equality Duty and section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act:
- racial groups
- sex
- gender reassignment
- sexual orientation
- pregnancy and maternity
- marriage and civil partnership
- people with dependents and those without
- political opinion (for Northern Ireland only)
- people who use different languages (Including Welsh Language and British Sign Language)
There is no evidence to suggest any specific impacts on those customers within any of the protected characteristic groups (listed above).
The following equality impacts were identified:
Disabled
Impact on Customers
Consideration should be given to potential accessibility issues for customers within this protected characteristic group who may not be able to access online services to monitor activity or defer responsibility to an agent.
Proposed Mitigation
HMRC offers Extra Support Team services which can be accessed by those customers who cannot, for whatever reason, interact with HMRC digitally or who need additional support and reassurance.
If a customer receives a bacs refund, they do not recognise/agree with they can contact HMRC by phone or by using online services.
Customers will continue to receive their paper statement of liabilities which will reflect refunds.
Age
Impact on Customers
Consideration has been given regarding the impact on older generation customers, who may be more hesitant to engage digitally with their tax or online banking account to be aware of the refund (although it is recognised this may not be the case for all those in the older generation population).
Proposed Mitigation
HMRC offers Extra Support Team services which can be accessed by those customers who cannot, for whatever reason, interact with HMRC digitally or who need additional support and reassurance.
If a customer receives a bacs refund, they do not recognise/agree with they can contact HMRC by phone or by using online services.
Customers will continue to receive their paper statement of liabilities which will reflect refunds.
Religion or belief
Impact on Customers
Some religious groups follow rules related to computer use that may affect access to digital services.
Proposed Mitigation
HMRC offers Extra Support Team services which can be accessed by those customers who cannot, for whatever reason, interact with HMRC digitally or who need additional support and reassurance.
If a customer receives a bacs refund, they do not recognise/agree with they can contact HMRC by phone. Customers will continue to receive their paper statement of liabilities which will reflect refunds.
Opportunities to promote equalities
We have considered opportunities to promote equalities and good relations between people in each of the protected characteristic groups and those outside of that group.
None have been identified.
A full equality impact assessment is not recommended.