HMRC service availability and issues

17 May 2016

The following messages have been published by HMRC on service availability and issues:

Government Gateway

HMRC previously let you know about 2 live tests organised by the Government Gateway team in preparation for the withdrawal of SHA 1 digital certificates. These previous tests took place on Tuesday 12 April 2016 and Tuesday 26 April 2016.

These live tests are being held to establish and ensure that customers will still be able to connect to the Government Gateway when the changes have been made. The date for this change is Wednesday 25 May 2016. From this date all Government Gateway websites certificates will use SHA-2 certificates. This mandated change is taking place in the Government Gateway as a direct result of IT security industry changes being made worldwide in regards to Secure SHA certification.

There is a final live test that will take place on Tuesday 17 May 2016 from 2pm to 4pm. If you make submissions to HMRC electronically during this 2 hour window, if you have not already done so during the previous 2 test windows, it’s important that you log into HMRC services to gain the necessary assurances that once SHA 1 digital certificates are replaced you don’t lose connectivity.

If you experience any issues accessing our services during the test window on Tuesday 17 May 2016 between 2pm and 4pm, please contact our Online Services Helpdesk.

Planned maintenance

Due to planned maintenance you will not be able to access HMRC online services between Tuesday 24 May 2016 10pm to Wednesday 25 May 2016 4am. We apologise for any inconvenience.