ECH22078 - Contract Settlements: SAFE - Unlocking Payments on Account

Unlocking a POA

When an offer has been agreed and you have completed the SAFE Settlement Stencil to raise the charge you must

telephone the SAFE team (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)before 2pm on the day the charge has been raised and ask them to unlock the POA to enable it to be set against the settlement charge. SAFE updates each night so it is important that both the POA and settlement charge are processed in SAFE on the same day (otherwise the notice to pay sent to the taxpayer will not reflect the POA ECH22075).

When you reach the settlement stage in a case where a POA has not been locked you must

ask the SAFE nominee to check when they raise the settlement charge that the POA is still available in full for set off against the settlement charge.

If exceptionally the POA has been allocated to another charge you must

ring the SAFE team (This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)before 2pm on the day the charge has been raised and
ask them to reallocate the POA to the settlement charge.

Where a POA has not been locked and settlement negotiations continue for a period of 3 months or more you must

ask the SAFE nominee to view the customer’s SAFE account to check that the POA is still available in full to be set against the settlement charge.

If it has been allocated against another charge you must

complete the stencil and
send it to the SAFE team asking them to remove the POA from the charge and lock the payment so that it is available to be set against the settlement charge.

When you reach settlement stage you should then follow the guidance above on unlocking the payment.

You must

continue to check the status of unlocked POA at monthly (in view of CISR monthly penalties) intervals and
deal with any reallocation as soon as you are aware that a payment has been allocated to a non settlement charge.