TCM0256080 - Renewals - Annual Declaration (general): Annual Declaration - manual Annual Declaration - issuing and processing (Info)

You must follow this guidance when you’re dealing with an Annual Declaration that needs to be manually issued. Because the Annual Declaration will be manually issued, the renewal will also need to be captured, processed and finalised manually. Automatic processing won’t occur and Unprocessed S17 work list items or Unfinalised S17 work list items won’t be created. If you are dealing with a PY-1, the checks that would normally take place to populate these work lists will be manually done.

If the claim is an Auto Renewal, the manual Annual Declaration is treated as if it was a Reply Required Annual Declaration.

When manually issuing the Annual Declaration, form TC648 and a Manual Renewal checklist must be completed and filed, with a relevant BF date on, in a manual filing cabinet.

When the Annual Declaration is returned, further manual checks must be carried out to establish if

  • the Annual Declaration is completed and signed
  • the PY-1 information is complete on the TC603D2 Annual Declaration (where appropriate)
  • the customer has reported or has indicated that they need to report a change of circumstances
  • a ‘Compliance’, ‘SCO’, ‘Inhibited’ or ‘Complex’ signal is set
  • an ‘Appeal’ signal is set
  • a Verification Failures work list item is present
  • an Unprocessed Change of Circumstances work list item is present
  • the Annual Declaration details are compatible with the details on the tax credits computer
  • the PY-1 information provided on the TC603D2 Annual Declaration is compatible with the details on the claim (where appropriate).

From the checks above, further enquiries may have to be made to the customer. These can be by phone or in writing. If the Annual Declaration is unsigned only, then treat the Annual Declaration as if it has been signed. If the Annual Declaration is unsigned and further information is required, then the Annual Declaration can be returned and the required information can be requested at the same time.

When all the information is received from the customer

  • the Declaration can be manually captured
  • the claim can be finalised and renewed (where appropriate).

If the customer doesn’t respond with the Annual Declaration or to the enquiries that have been sent, the claim will be finalised and terminated.

A further check is done when the claim has been finalised to determine if the claim is in manual payment.

The work item can be cleared when the process has been completed. The work item could be

  • an Unprocessed Change of Circumstances work list item
  • an item on the spreadsheet
  • correspondence.

A final check is done to determine if the Annual Declaration will be issued by the computer for the next financial year. If the claim is finalised after 18 February, the next year’s Annual Declaration will have to be manually issued.

There is an Action Guide for this subject, select TCM0256100 to access it