Special Cases and Exclusions
As part of filing online, your clients’ returns are validated against HMRC’s own online filing specification. There are some instances where the HMRC server will incorrectly report a data validation error against a submitted return.
To limit the number of returns that get falsely rejected, HMRC prepare a list of Special Cases and Exclusions and make this list available to software developers like Sage. We then take this information and incorporate a series of checks in the software.
For further information about each Special Case or Exclusion, please follow the link for the relevant tax year.
Before you can file online, Sage’s Personal Tax software checks your clients’ returns meet HMRC’s onling filing requirements. In most cases these validations will identify whether your client’s return is covered by a Special Case or Exclusion.
There are, however, some Special Cases and Exclusions which our software does not currently detect. For the 2019-20 tax year, these are:
| Affected areas | Cases |
|---|---|
| Adjustments to earlier years | Special Case 10 |
| Averaging adjustments | Exclusion 34 |
| Double Taxation Relief | Special Case 9 |
| Entrepreneurs relief |
Special Case 36 Exclusion 118 |
| Investors' relief | Exclusion 119 |
| Other UK Income | Special Case 13 |
| Reliefs and Allowances | Exclusion 100 |
| Remittance basis | Exclusion 110 |
| Repayments | Special Case 20 |
| Residency | Special Cases 11, 30, 31. Exclusions 19, 47 |
| Self-employments | Special Case 36 |
| Share Fishermen | Exclusion 46 |
| Taxpayers dealt with under special arrangements | Exclusion 3 |
| Trust income | Special Case 22. Exclusions 5, 20, 62 |
| Trusts with life insurance policies taxed at 22% | Exclusion 5 |
How can I tell if a client is affected?
In certain circumstances, if HMRC identifies scenarios where the tax calculation is incorrect, it issues exclusion cases and advises taxpayers to submit a paper return.
HMRC is still reviewing the definitive criteria to identify the incorrect calculations and we are working with them on this.
Where possible, the software identifies returns that are affected by these exclusions and offers the appropriate advice.
For details of these exclusions please refer to our help article.
If you need clarification on a particular client, please contact HMRC on 0300 200 3311 for further advice.
How do I submit a paper return?
- Navigate to Report Preview.
- Select Tax Return PDF.
- Generate a PDF without a draftmark.
- Post the tax return and associated reasonable excuse claim to the appropriate HMRC address for your client.
It is not currently possible to use the software to override the SA110 Tax calculation summary pages, therefore if you wish to alter the calculated tax figure this must be done manually.
For updated information from HMRC regarding the tax calculation error they identified in 2017 see HMRC Tax Calculation Errors Update