HMRC recently announced that from the 4th September they will no longer be issuing paper base copies of the SA302 to their tax payers or agents.
The SA302 is effectively HMRC’s version of an individual’s income tax calculation for a respective tax year. It is usually issued by HMRC, upon request, following the submission of a self-assessment tax return. The SA302 document shows various taxable income streams received by individual along with tax liability for a year, any tax suffered during the year and any balance of tax payable to HMRC.
For many years the SA302 has been used mainly by self-employed individuals or directors to verify their annual tax income. This document has become an important piece of evidence often requested by brokers and lenders when processing a mortgage application.
Despite HMRC announcement the number of agents that are still calling HMRC for paper copy as client lenders are not accepting the self serve copy printed by the HMRC online accounts or the commercial software used to file the Self Assessment Return.
HMRC have been working closely with the council of Mortgage lenders and software providers to ensure printed tax calculations from commercial software and HMRC online account will be acceptable to lenders.
The new process should make it quicker and easier for tax payers to access the information required by lenders to verify income.
Majority of lenders have agreed to accept self serve copies and HMRC have produced a list of lenders on its website.
