HMRC API - Service status & common messages

Below are some common questions, queries and answers regarding the HMRC API facility that can be found within TaxCalc:

Who should complete the identity check during authorisation?

The identity check should be completed by someone who is authorised to act for your firm. (Details asked include full name, date of birth, national insurance number and P60 or passport details)

Technical issues

If you are receiving this HMRC messaging whilst attempting to authorise, you will need to ensure that the below is true:

1. You are running software version 6.1.033 or higher.
2. You are entering your Passport and NI details (not clients). Please note this is for anyone in the firm who has authority to act on the firms behalf.

Why am I getting an error "No bearer token or unauthorised"?

If you see this message when you are attempting to fetch data it could mean one of the following:

• The account details used to authorise TaxCalc are not enrolled in 'Self Assessment for Agents' (i.e. you're not using agent credentials)
• You do not have an active 64-8 in place for this client
  • Make sure that you have a 64-8 in place for all clients that you wish to fetch data for.
• If you have multiple agent codes, make sure you are logging in with the credentials of the account where a 64-8 is in place.
• If you have multiple agent accounts and have a group setup, make sure that this client is within your group.

Grant Authority has been cancelled

1. Is the HMRC Status page showing "no known issues"
   1. Yes, please go to point 2
   2. No, please wait for the HMRC status to be updated as you will not be able to authorise taxcalc without the service being available.
2. Please disable your firewall and anti-virus software (temporarily) to see if the process then allows you to successfully authorise the application.
   1. Yes, no further steps required. Please try and attempt the fetch on a client which you have a 64-8 in place for
   2. If this doesn't work, you will need to contact the support team and make reference to the steps attempted above.

Why is the fetch facility not returning any data?

There are a few reasons for this, which are:

• the taxpayer's PAYE data has not been reconciled (this takes place between May and September, but can take longer for some taxpayers)
• information hasn't been received from the employer and or pension provider, such as P60's or P11D's (this will stop the taxpayer's PAYE data from reconciling)
• a tax return has already been submitted for the year.
• the taxpayer is not registered as needing to complete a Self Assessment

Pensions are coming through as one figure, why?

Currently, HMRC sends the pension data as one figure and merge all values. Unfortunately, we cannot change this at present.

Some pensions are coming through as an employer, why?

This is a known issue with the way pensions providers send data via RTI. HMRC are working to correct this issue in the future.

Bad request

This usually occurs when there is a failed authorisation attempt within 15 minutes. If you have failed to authorise TaxCalc and receive this message, please close and re-open the application to allow the next attempt to be processed.