Online SA documentation to support loan and mortgage applications

01 April 2015

HMRC has provided an update on changes to HMRC’s online Self Assessment documentation to support loan and mortgage applications.

Mortgage lenders require external evidence of earnings to support mortgage or loan applications. Until now customers with self-employed income were asked to provide a paper copy of the Tax Calculation (known as the SA302) from HMRC for this purpose.

HMRC has been working with the Council of Mortgage Lenders on improving some Self Assessment (SA) online documentation, so that it can be considered as evidence of income declared to HMRC and to meet the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) challenge over the robustness of the Tax Calculation.

The online documents that have been improved are:

  • The ‘Tax Calculation’ which shows the breakdown of the income returned on the customers tax return, including commercial versions and
  • The ‘Tax Year Overview’ which confirms the tax due from the return submitted to HMRC and shows any payments made, cross referencing the Tax Calculation with HMRC records.

The new process

Lenders will ask customers to provide both these documents, some mortgage lenders have begun, while others are still preparing to put the new process into practice.

To avoid any unnecessary delay or confusion over what a lender needs HMRC strongly recommend you (your client) confirms with the lender what is acceptable before obtaining any documents or submitting any information. In many cases this will mean you (your client) can print the documents without having to contact HMRC to get a paper copies.

In order to access and print what you need, you or your client need to be registered for HMRC Online service. If you use

  • HMRC software to send your client’s return then you can print both documents from the SA online account
  • commercial software to submit the return, you can print the tax year overview from the SA online account but you need to use your own software to print the Tax Calculation.

HMRC will continue to provide paper copies for anyone who cannot access and print their documentation or if the lender requires paper copies then contact HMRC Self Assessment Helpline.

If the Lender has asked for self-serve documents, here’s how to print your client’s SA documents from HMRC SA online account:

To access and print your client’s HMRC documentation you will need to be registered for online Agent authorisation. Once you’re authorised, you can use HMRC Online Services to manage your client lists, file returns and exchange information with HMRC online. You then need to log in to your client’s details in your Agent online account and follow the ‘at a glance’ link. You’ll see instructions for printing your client’s Tax Calculation and Tax Year Overview.

Printing your client’s SA documents – Tax Calculation and Tax Year Overview

Please note:

  • you cannot get a print of the Tax Calculation from the SA online account if you sent the return using commercial software or paper
  • if you used commercial software, you must use that software to print your Tax Calculation but you will need to print the tax year overview from HMRC online account

Follow these steps to print a Tax Calculation

  1. Choose the relevant client from the authorised client list
  2. Follow the link ‘tax return options’
  3. Choose the year from the drop down menu and click the ‘go’ button
  4. Select ‘view return’
  5. Follow the link ‘view calculation’
  6. Follow the link ‘view and print your calculation’
  7. Follow the link 'print your full calculation' - you can currently only view and print up to 2 years Tax Calculations from the HMRC online account but this will increase to 3 years from April 2015 and 4 years from April 2016.

Follow these steps to print a Tax Year Overview

  1. Choose the relevant client
  2. Follow the link ‘view account’
  3. Follow the link ‘tax years’
  4. Choose the year from the drop down menu and click the ‘Go’ button
  5. Follow the link ‘print your Tax Year Overview’.

Please note: You must wait 72 hours after fully submitting your return until you can print your documents.

More news