CISR22030 - Authenticate customer: authentication: authentication of a sole trader

| CISR22600 | Action guide contents | |—————————————————————————————————–|———————–|

Because of our commitment to keeping customer information confidential it is essential that you know that the person wishing to use our services is the customer or someone who you have on record as being authorised to act on their behalf. In order to ‘authenticate’ that person/contact successfully you must first establish their identity and ensure that they know sufficient details relating to the customer to pass ‘Authentication’.

Authentication of sole traders

To pass ‘Authentication’ the contact must supply

• Both ‘Mandatory items’ of information, and

Three more items with at least one of these items being in the ‘Secure’ panel.

Mandatory Items

• Full name or trading name
• Address (this can be either the traders personal address or trading address (if different), but the address should relate to the ‘name’ supplied.

Secure Items

• SA UTR
• NINO
• AO Ref (if also an employer / contractor)
• EMPREF (if also an employer / contractor)
• Date of birth
• Passport (for visual inspection at Enquiry Counter only)
• Driving licence (for visual inspection at Enquiry Counter only)
• Utility bill (for visual inspection at Enquiry Counter only)
• Official correspondence from HMRC (or former IR or C&E) (Enquiry Counter only)

Additional Items

• Telephone number
• Another address (home, business or communication)
• Nature of trade
• Date and time of last contact by customer

Only after the person making contact has been authenticated successfully may you move on to the next stage dealing with the purpose of the call. Where authentication is not successful the call should be terminated and the contact asked to send details to you in writing. Where you are suspicious as to the origins of the call or the caller you should consider marking the contact as Suspect/Bogus and noting your reasons. Refer to CISR22650 for more details about this.