SAM11131 - Appeals, postponements and reviews:

Using the ‘Appeals Handler’ role for the appropriate OUID, follow steps 1 - 14 below, as appropriate, to

  • Handle a request to standover an amount of the self assessment, where the taxpayer complains that the amount of Student Loan and/or Postgraduate Loan (PGL) repayment included in the SA calculation is greater than the balance of the loan outstanding
  • Clear the informal standover when either
  • You receive notification by the East Kilbride Student Loans Unit (EKSLU) that the Student Loans Company have informed them of an excess balance or
  • The BF date is reached, and no notification has been received

The guide is presented as follows

Action on receipt of the request to standover an amount relating to overpayment of Student Loans and/or PGL - Steps 1 - 7
Action where notification of receipt of an excess Student Loan and/or PGL balance is received from EKSLU - Steps 8 - 11
Action where BF date is reached and no notification is received - Steps 12 - 14

Action on receipt of the request to standover an amount relating to overpayment of Student Loans and/or PGL

1. In function VIEW STATEMENT

  • Identify the charge to be informally stoodover (in part or in full)
  • Select the [Standovers] button. You will be taken into function MAINTAIN STANDOVERS

2. In function MAINTAIN STANDOVERS

  • Select the [Informal Standover] button. The screen will be re-presented with the Informally Stoodover field unprotected
  • Enter that part of the charge that is to be informally stoodover up to the Maximum Amount Available
  • Select the [OK] button

3. In function MAINTAIN SA NOTES explain the purpose of the standover and the amount

4. Advise East Kilbride Student Loan Unit (EKSLU) by e-mail to DL-EKSLU-IFSO that an Informal Standover request has been made. You should show the following information

  • Name
  • NINO or UTR
  • Year (in relation to the Student Loan and/or PGL)
  • Amount of standover

5. In work list W019 record a BF date of 31 October after the fixed filing date of the return affected. (Note: If the return has been received late you may need to extend this date to allow for the SA Student Loan and/or PGL amount to be notified to SLC and for SLC to determine whether that amount exceeds the loan amount outstanding, a period of approximately 3 months should suffice)

6. Send a letter to the taxpayer explaining the standover and warning about interest

Your letter should be written on the following lines

‘Student Loan and/or Postgraduate Loan (delete as appropriate) Repayments in SA Return

Thank you for your letter dated (enter date).

Until we have been notified of any overpayment by the Student Loans Company, the amount in dispute will be shown on Statements of Account with the words ‘Collection suspended’.

Please remember that interest will continue to be added to overdue amounts and will be payable if any amount of the Student Loan and/or PGL repayment you say is overpaid later becomes payable.

To help us improve customer service, please quote our reference number and provide a daytime telephone number in any correspondence.’

7. File away the request and a copy of the acknowledgement letter with the SA return

Action where notification of receipt of excess Student Loan and/or PGL balance is received from EKSLU

8. BF the case for 14 days to allow EKSLU to credit the customer’s SA statement of Account with the excess amount notified to them by the SLC using Function CREATE RETURN CHARGE (CRC)

9. After 14 days check the statement of account to ensure that the amount has been credited to the account. (If the amount has not been credited to the account send details to EKSLU

10. Where the credit has been received and account updated use function MAINTAIN STANDOVERS to reduce the amount informally stoodover by the amount of the payable order received from SLC. In most cases, where there are no other reasons for informal standover, this reduces the standover to nil

Note: The standover may have already been reduced by EKSLU when carrying out the CRC

11. The credit may be automatically allocated to a charge with an earlier Statutory Due Date than the return charge that has been informally stoodover. If the taxpayer objects to this, you should use function CLERICAL REALLOCATION to move the credit onto the correct charge

Action where BF date is reached and no notification is received

If no notification of credit is received from EKSLU by 31 October after the fixed filing date of the return affected

12. In function MAINTAIN SA NOTES check the amount informally stoodover for the reason of Student Loan and/or PGL overpayment

13. In function MAINTAIN STANDOVERS reduce the amount informally stoodover by the amount obtained from the SA Notes. In most cases, where there are no other reasons for informal standover, this reduces the standover to nil

14. Write to the taxpayer explaining the reason for the release of the standover