PAYE105501 - Individual records: BF policy: introduction

When working correspondence or reviewing a work item you may need to create a brought forward (BF) item.

The purpose of a BF is

  • To prompt the review of a customer record when follow up action is required
  • To check that a reply has been received or an activity has taken place

You must always aim to complete the correspondence or work item in its entirety at the earliest opportunity.

You must only create a BF where the correspondence or work item cannot be completed in its entirety and one of the following conditions is met

  • There is a clear indication of an underpayment in excess of the tolerance in any individual year. Please refer to PAYE93075 for tolerances
  • There is information required to complete the review of a deceased customer record
  • There is information or action required from another part of HMRC
  • There is a specific need to create a BF within the guidance for the correspondence or work item you are reviewing

How a BF is created

There are two types of BF which can be created. Please refer to PAYE105520 for further guidance.

Existing work item

If you are reviewing a work item where follow up action is required, you can set a BF date as outlined in PAYE110060.

Paper record

If you are reviewing correspondence and you need to create a BF you should create a paper BF as outlined in PAYE105520.

Note: Manual work item - Although the facility to manually generate a work item is available, this should not be used as generic work items are now used to allocate higher priority work.

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BF review date

The BF review date is when

  • You will need to review the customer record to ensure that follow up action is taken
  • You will need to check that a reply has been received or an activity has taken place

When a BF is created the review date should be specified within the relevant guidance.

If no BF date is given within the guidance then you should set the review date for six weeks, as this will provide sufficient time for a reply to be received or an activity to have taken place.