DMBM121050 - Maintain charges (financial) by IT system: Maintain charge (financial) in SAFE: Returned payments (dishonoured) in SAFE

Some content of this manual is being considered for archiving. If there is content you use regularly, please email hmrcmanualsteam@hmrc.gov.uk to let us know as soon as possible.

Returned cheques

For payments posted to SAFE, returned cheques will be processed by the AutomaticRemittance Processing equipment (ARP) in the same way as for BROCS and SA. The ReceiptsClearing System (RCS) will direct these to SAFE. Guidance covering Returned Payments wherethe original payment was banked in a local office is contained in DMBM205110.

Where the returned cheque posting is matched to the original payment posting on a SAFEcharge record, a minus posting will be made against the charge.

If the original payment was posted direct to Unallocated Payments Worklist and remainsthere when the returned cheque is processed the minus posting is made on the UnallocatedPayments Worklist and the worklist item is cleared.

If the original payment has been moved, either within SAFE or to OAS, then the returnedpayment posting will not be matched against the original payment. The item will appear onthe Returned Payment Clarification List.

The SAFE Returned Payment Clarification List is an on-line accounting list and not arejection list. The entries on the list must be cleared by a contra entry.

For original payments that have been reallocated but remain within SAFE, the item on theReturned Payment Clarification List can be applied to the charge by matching the return tothe reallocated payment.

For original payments that have been reallocated to OAS

  • Where the original payment has not been repaid and is still held in OAS, the Create Payment Lot function is used to transfer the credit from OAS to the Customer Account where the returned payment can then be matched.
  • Where the original payment has been repaid, the item on the Returned Payment Clarification List is cleared by creating an Over-repayment charge on the Customer Account Record.

Returned payment letters will be issued clerically.

Returned Electronic Payments

For returned payments that are received electronically, there is no automatic update toSAFE. These will follow existing processes for creating a minus entry in OAS.

Where the original electronic payment is still on a SAFE record, the Reset Clearingfunction is used to reallocate the payment to the Unallocated Payments Worklist. Thepayment is then transferred to OAS as a ‘Hold’ and cross-referenced to the minusentry.

Where the original payment is held on the SAFE Unmatched Worklist (see DMBM209700), it will initially have to be reallocated to acustomer account. If no customer account is identified, a dummy account will have to becreated. This is achieved by using the Create Customer Account function and a pseudo precomputer/legacy reference to be obtained from the SAFE Team. Once the payment istransferred to Unallocated Payments on the dummy record, it can be transferred to OAS as a‘Hold’ and cross-referenced to the minus entry.

If the original payment has been repaid then the user will follow existing OAS processesto clear the debit and create an Over-repayment charge on SAFE.