Minutes of Stamp Duty Land Tax Developer Forum

Venue: 100 Parliament St, London G/16

Attendees:

Tim Minshull (TM) HMRC SDS Team
Lorna Clark (LC) HMRC SDS Team
Sally Mills (SM) HMRC Stamp Taxes
Rachel Varndell (RV) HMRC Stamp Taxes
Jim Ferguson (JF) HMRC Stamp Taxes
Tony Hutchins (TH) HMRC Stamp Taxes
Yogesh Sharma (YS) HMRC Stamp Taxes
Dave Drewett (DD) HM Land Registry
Simon Pearson (SP) Easy Convey
Gary Rogers (GR) Laserforms
Alex Reeve (AR) Lexis Nexis
Susie Campbell (SC) Enact
Alex Clark (AC) Enact
Roger Hancock (RH) LSSA
Laura Hundley (LH) Eclipse
Michael Callaghan (MC) Eversheds
Simon Sabel (SS) Landscape
Adrian Dixon (AD) Landscape
Archie Courage (AC) SDLT.co.uk

1. Introductions

2. Action Points from last developer forum

TM contacted all third party developers to see if they had identified any behavioural differences between TPVS & Live. DPS Software advised they had noticed a difference in the IRmark success_response. SDS Team have escalated this accordingly and the issue is being investigated.
Prior to Fiona Griffiths departure she circulated an email advising of the new Outreach Presentation. Her replacement is Paul Coulthard.
Fiona updated discussion group contact details.
TM circulated minutes of previous to all attendees.
HMRC confirmed that Service Level Agreements are in place with Government Gateway and ‘fix’ times are dependant on the severity of the problem.
TM circulated a link to the HTML version of the SDLT6 guidance to all developers.
A Government Gateway representative was unavailable to join the meeting. TM made developers aware that not all issues related to the Government Gateway are Gateway responsibility so there is a need to understand the escalation route in place with SDS Team.

Clients of third party software are often wary of contacting the Online Services Helpdesk. TM stressed that the only way to improve the service given by OSH advisers, is for users to use the OSH and log any dissatisfaction with their software provider who will then in turn forward this to the SDS Team. TM confirmed that the <GatewayTimestamp> returned in the submit_acknowledgement should be used as the date / time of receipt of the SDLT return. This is of course only if the submission is successful.
Service Level Agreement. See above
SM thanked AC for his feedback supplied in respect of his customers Gateway registration experiences.

3. Working Together Membership

I. See document published separately on the Developer Forum Minutes page.

4. Outreach – Law Society Events

RV advised that they are planning to launch this service to a wider audience at the Business Advice open days and Carter Open days. Feedback received from the previous Outreach meeting held on 30 October 2007 has been positive. By the end of November 2007 the Outreach Team will have attended 23 Law Society events and it transpired that most of the attendees don’t file online.

Feedback received from the events centred around registration and HMRC web pages for guidance.

TM asked third party developers to confirm how they issue their online SDLT5 certificates. More events are being planned due to their success but the Outreach team are unable to arrange individual visits as they are arranged by the Law Society.
A discussion then took place relating to registration. TM confirmed to third party developers that their clients should contact the Online Services Helpdesk with registration issues. TM is to the next point of contact if clients are experiencing difficulty. The information required by TM is the call reference number, the advisers name and the date & time of the call. This will help the OSH to identify any training needs and ultimately to provide a better service. AP – all developers

5. Enhancements

The Company or Surname fields were updated on 31st October
2007 to allow 56 characters and code 30 for zero carbon has also been updated.

Due to customer feedback the deployment of the Intelligent Polling function has been put back until 6 April 2008. The SOAP call to retrieve ‘real time’ live service response time will also be deployed on 6 April 2008.

Developers were asked to identify if there are any peaks in Stamps submissions. AP – all developers.

TM to contact Gateway for a calendar of releases and to help identify busy periods across all online services. AP – TM

6. Customer Feedback

Developers are requesting clarity on how to register multiple title numbers. Stamps will provide more guidance
As LLP’s are now able to register for Stamp Duty Land Tax an FAQ needs adding to the website. SM confirmed this was taking place.

7. SDS Team Update

SP & SS both attended the recent Gateway Enhancements meeting. SDS Team are holding discussions with Gateway regarding the potential of opening up the HMRC Gateway portal to third parties, which could include a registration and enrolment credential check & Chip & PIN, which is currently being used by the Ministry of Defence. TM advised the XML capture function has been de-scoped from the External Software Proving Service (ESPS) project.

8. Government Gateway

See Action Points

9. ARTL Update

Live trials are continuing with four agents. Six lenders are now now involved. More visits to lenders are in the diary. Internal testing is also continuing. Awaiting further update from BT in relation to the second phase.

10. E Conveyancing Update

I. See document published separately on the Developer Forum minutes page
TM asked for all developer communication for Andy Graham to be passed through him.

11. Barcode & CD Rom update

The process for 2D Barcode scanning failures has been issued to all developers and statistics show there has been an increase in e-filing, and feedback from users is good. SP asked for confirmation of statistics and 38 per cent of submissions are now received via XML and Stamp Taxes are on course to hit 50 per cent of submissions April 2008. Paper rejections are up to 18 per cent as of Sept 07.

12. Marketing Plans

Stamp Taxes have been involved in various presentations and their first press release covered the increase of 56 characters for Company or Surname fields for e-filing and the introduction of code 30 for zero carbon homes. Stamp Taxes are planning on numerous press releases throughout the year and are actively working with the press office.

Users who have registered with the Government Gateway but who have not yet activated their accounts was discussed but HMRC are not sure of numbers.

Stamp Taxes are planning to take their training material to various universities to target law students on the benefits of online filing.
AC stated that many solicitors do not register for online filing as they do not have the time. It was mentioned for Stamp Taxes to contact CPD, which is the Law Society, on the possibility of providing a training course on Government Gateway registration for solicitors. This could then count towards Law Society points.

13. Duplicate Transactions

HMRC investigations are still ongoing and we are waiting for an overview of GGIS. Confirmation was given that no transactions have been lost and all duplicate transactions from August 07 have now all been dealt with.

14. What improvements would developers like to see?

The online validation for leases does not match guidance given in the SDLT6. This is to be added to agenda for the next SDLT online developer forum.

Developers also requested for monthly developer stats to be broken down into errors, would be beneficial.

The monthly developer stats now include a separate column for test in live totals.

Developers were asked to email TM their improvements.

15. AOB

SM advised that a solution that will enable county councils to register for SDLT online is under discussion. The trial process will be available in a few weeks, and will hopefully be deployed in the New Year.
Could there be a link with HM Land Registry systems to auto popluate title numbers into submissions created by third party software. AP – DD
TM to advise on the possibility of RSS feeds and will take this up with the ESPS project. AP – TM
SM advised that the CORE validation will be reviewed in view of the changes made to SDLT1 Q58.

Meeting closed at 3.20pm