SAM101001 - Records: maintain taxpayer record: introduction

It is essential that the SA record is kept up to date and reflects the latest information in respect of the following areas. The provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) apply to SA customer records in the same way as they apply to customer records held on other HMRC computer systems.

Customer name details
Customer address details
Customer NINO
Signals
Agent details
Capacity details
Sources of income
Partner sources
Communication name and address

Customer name details

For ‘Individual’ customer records (excluding Non Resident Company Landlords) changes to the customer’s name should be made through the Customer Business Service (TBS) using function AMEND TAXPAYER DESIGNATORY DETAILS or using NPS if an NPS record is held showing the customer’s UTR. This ensures that information in the different databases is kept in line.

For Non Resident Company Landlords and customer types other than ‘Individual’, changes to the customer’s name should be made using SA function AMEND TAXPAYER NAME AND ADDRESS.

Customer address details

For ‘Individual’ customer records changes to the customer’s base address, refer to SAM101030 under the sub heading ‘Amending an address or RLS signal’.

For Non Resident Company Landlords and customer types other than ‘Individual’, changes to the customer’s base address should be made using SA function AMEND TAXPAYER NAME AND ADDRESS.

Note: Information updated on SA will be passed to the Citizen’s Identification (CID) framework at 6.00pm each day. Updates made after 6.00pm will be passed to CID framework at 6.00pm the following day.

If you enter a new address that is outside the area covered by your office you may receive a transfer prompt. The transfer prompt is explained at SAM103120.

Customer NINO

There are very few circumstances when you can set up a customer in SA without a national insurance number (NINO). If a customer has been set up in SA without a NINO the record will be allocated a temporary reference number. You must follow the guidance at SAM101105 and SAM101106 if you find we hold records for the same customer under a NINO and a temporary reference number.

Signals

A range of signals are held on the SA record. ‘Individual’ type customer records (excluding Non Resident Company Landlords) can be amended through TBS or using NPS if an NPS record is held showing the customer’s UTR. Non Resident Company Landlords and customer type records other than ‘Individual’ can be amended in SA.

Details of the signals available in each SA function are contained in the Function topic attached to each customer type throughout this section.

Agent details

If the customer has appointed an agent to act, the correct national agent code should always be present on the customer’s SA record. The customer record can only contain details of one agent.

The Agent Maintainer Team within the Central Agent Authorisation Team (CAAT) at Longbenton deal with the setting up and amending of all agent records in SA.

Capacity details

The SA system will permit details of up to five persons or bodies currently acting in capacity to be entered.

If the name and address of the Personal Representative (PR) is correct on the record and you are sure that correspondence is being sent to the correct recipient, where no specific request has been made to change the ‘Capacity Role’, there is no requirement to do so as making that change will cause the PR to have to re-register for online filing. For more information, see subject ‘Maintain capacities’ at SAM101190.

The capacity fields on the SA record may be used to direct correspondence to your office. This will only happen where the Statement Control Officer agrees to inhibit issue of Statements of Account to the customer. For more information see section ‘Statement Issue’ (SAM131000 onwards).

Sources of income

Maintaining the sources of income details will enable the following aspects of the customer’s affairs to be kept up to date

  • Business name and address
  • Trading source(s) and TCNs
  • Main source of income
  • SA Return profile

Partner sources

Maintaining the partner sources of income will ensure that the correct links are made with the partnership records.

Communication name and address

If the customer indicates that correspondence should be sent to a name / address other than his / her own name and base address, the correspondence name and / or address must be entered on the SA record to ensure that output is issued using those details.