SAM50520 - Digital services: digital outputs
In order to encourage more digital interaction, HMRC are sending additional digital correspondence such as e-mail reminders, to customers who have ‘opted in’ and have supplied their e-mail address.
To enable customers to verify that the e-mail is genuine, HMRC e-mails will include the departmental logo and the customer’s full name, and only contain a general reminder to take action, for example, file a return or pay an outstanding amount of tax, or a notification about a change or event, for example, that a payment has been made. The customer would then access his online account to obtain more detail.
Emails from HMRC will never contain
- Financial information such as details of outstanding payments or tax refunds
- Active links to the customers accounts, log-on pages or i-forms
- Active links to sites outside HMRC or Gov.uk
- Any attachments
When digital outputs have been issued, the customers’ record will show, for example, that a statement has been issued, but will not show whether the statement has been issued on paper or digitally.
The table below shows when outputs became available digitally
| Date | Form | Form number |
|---|---|---|
| June 2014 | Statements | SA300 |
| 30 July 2014 | Exit letter | SA251 |
| 01 September 2014 | Repayment notification | R1000(CS) |
| 3 December 2014 | Notice to complete a tax return | SA316 |
| 3 December 2014 | Reminder to file a tax return/pay outstanding tax | SA309A, SA309C |
| 14 February 2015 | Strongly worded reminder | SA359 |
| 18 February 2015 | Penalty letters | SA326D, SA328D, SA370, SA372-30, SA372-60 |
Note: In December 2014, no paper reminders to file or pay outstanding tax (forms SA309A, SA309C and SA309E) were issued. Customers who had ‘opted-in’ received digital reminders and additionally, e-mail reminders were issued to unrepresented customers who had filed previous returns online.
Non-delivery of digital output
Where a customer has opted for paperless contact, HMRC will deliver the relevant document, or `Notice to file a tax return’, digitally to their secure mailbox in their Online account and, at the same time, an e-mail will be sent to the e-mail address the customer provided, to advise the customer to check their mailbox for new messages.
If the e-mail is not delivered successfully, Online Services will be notified and will re-send it. If it fails for a second time, the customer will automatically be de-registered from paperless contact and any future letters or `Notices’ will be issued on paper.
In such cases, the original SA316 (Notice to file a tax return) sent to the customers secure account, is deemed as ‘undelivered’ and SEES letter SA3 (which advises the customer that they have been de-registered from digital contact) will be issued together with a paper SA316 (Notice to file a tax return), using function RECORD DATE OF CLERICAL ISSUE, to show
- The date action is being taken
- That it is a ‘Not Failure to Notify’ case, and
- The tax year involved
Where the digital output was a SA316 (Notice to file a return) an SA Note will also be made which says ‘Digital SA316 returned as undelivered. SA3 and SA316 issued’. The customer will then be given 7 days and 3 months from the date of that action to file the return.
If the customer subsequently re-registers for digital contact and provides an up-to-date e-mail address, digital communications will recommence.
Note: Digital notices, including a Notice to file a tax return, are deemed to have been delivered when HMRC has sent an e-mail message to the customer, and posted the digital information to the customers secure mailbox, and HMRC knows, and can prove, the e-mail has not ‘bounced’. The customer does not have to have read the e-mail message and/or the digital content for it to have been `delivered’.