Accountants who use HMRC's SA Online service for filing their clients' self-assessment tax returns are currently unable to obtain repayments to nominee accounts on behalf of those clients. Users of proprietary software are not affected.
The Working Together e-services group has sent the following information from HMRC:
'Users can still submit a self-assessment return online using HMRC's free software, and can still get repayments. Fill in the return as usual, but do not complete the overpaid tax page. When the return is submitted, the repayment will be recorded on the customer's self assessment account but repayment will not be made automatically.
'The taxpayer will need to ask HMRC to make the repayment to the nominee. They can write to their tax office on form R38 or taxpayers who are registered and enrolled for the self assessment online service can use the "request a repayment" function.
'HMRC are investigating the issue and they apologise for any inconvenience caused.'
For more information about proprietary software, see Taxation's technology supplement published with the 20 September 2007 edition of Taxation.