Section 17 and Section 18, Taxes Management Act 1970 - guidance

Reporting for 2005/06

The format in which interest paid or received is reported under section 17 and section 18, Taxes Management Act 1970 (TMA 70) enables paying agents to meet their obligations to report under section 17 or section 18 and under the reporting of Savings Income Information Regulations (Savings Income Reporting) at the same time. These regulations came into effect on 1st July 2005.

2005/2006 will be the first year for which reports under the Reporting of Savings Income Information Regulations (Savings Income Reporting) will be required.

For more information on Savings Income Reporting and Reporting under sections 17 and 18 see Reporting under Sections 17 and 18 TMA 70 and the Reporting of Savings Income Regulations 2003.

The magnetic media specifications, forms and guidance notes mentioned below are all in PDF format. To view a PDF document you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. To save the document to your hard drive, right click on the link and choose the save option.

Form of report

Please ensure all returns are clearly labelled and well packaged. HMRC recommends that returns are sent as securely as possible by means that record delivery or can be tracked in the case of delivery failure.

The person making the report can do so using magnetic media. The magnetic media specifications set out the formats for reporting and give guidance on making the reports.

When submitting your live return or test file on magnetic media please ensure that you complete a submission document and send it with your return submission. Blank submission documents are available to download:

If you want to make a report on paper you must use the forms available from the HMRC orderline.

Photocopied or downloaded forms must not be used.

If you are reporting under section 17 use form S17 OCR(PDF 30K) and read the S17 OCR guidance (PDF 169K)

If you are reporting under section 18 use form S18 OCR (PDF 30K) and read the S18 OCR guidance (PDF 152K)

If you are a local authority making returns under S18 use form S18 (LA) OCR (PDF 198K) and read the S18 (LA) OCR guidance (PDF 97K).

Guidance Notes

These notes provide guidance on how to meet your section 17 or 18 TMA reporting responsibilities. There are separate guidance notes S17 and S18 TMA for 2006/07 and 2007/08 and changes between the years are highlighted in the changes note.

There are also guidance notes on how to meet your savings income reporting obligations under the Reporting of Savings Income Information Regulations (2003).

The notes are not binding and do not affect any person's right of appeal. Nor are they a full statement of the law as it applies, or has applied.

The notes are in PDF format. To view a PDF document you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. To save the notes to your hard drive, right click on the link and choose the save option.

2006/07

2007/08

Fully Reportable countries

Section 17 and section 18 reporting are normally restricted to investors with addresses in the UK and other "Fully Reportable" (FR) countries.

We will give 6 months notice of any change to the list of FR countries.

A change in section 17 and section 18 reporting for 2005/06

Some paying agents currently report interest paid or received in respect of all investors irrespective of whether or not they have an address in an 'Fully Reportable' (FR) country. This facility will be withdrawn from 6 April 2005. So for the reporting year 2005/06 we shall expect you to report only those investors with addresses in the UK and other FR countries.