Guidance notes for submitting
a return under Section 887 of the Income Tax Act 2007 on a spreadsheet
Section 887 of the Income Tax Act 2007 requires credit unions
to make annual returns to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) of members’ dividends. The return must be made within three months
after the end of the credit union’s accounting period.
HMRC now has a central point to which you should send your annual return. Please
send it to:
HM Revenue & Customs
Centre for National Information
Ground Floor
Government Buildings
Ty Glas
Llanishen
Cardiff
CF14 5ZG
Please enclose a covering letter with your return showing
your contact details and identifying the fact that it is a credit union
return. Please also indicate the year to which your return relates.
Sending your Section 887 Return to HMRC on a spreadsheet
HMRC would prefer to receive your return on a spreadsheet. To help you
with this HMRC have set up a pre-formatted Excel spreadsheet which you
can download to your computer (see link below). The template should help
ensure your return fits HMRC format and so can be successfully captured.
Please follow the guidance notes below and in the comments boxes linked
to the headings on the template.
When you have opened the spreadsheet, save it to your computer hard
drive before you start compiling your return.
Download a spreadsheet template
(opens in Microsoft Excel 23K).
To use the template
Select the link above and open the spreadsheet template.
Save the spreadsheet to your computer using the filename shown
in your notice.
Use the saved spreadsheet to compile your return. Please follow the
guidance below and
in the yellow comments boxes on the spreadsheet itself.
Example of a return
See an example of the preferred
return format (opens in Microsoft Excel 22K)
Submission methods
After you have compiled your return you can send it to HMRC using the
following methods:
- Secure Electronic Transfer (SET) - this is a secure online submission
method through which you can send your spreadsheet return. See
further details.
- On computer disk - HMRC can accept CDs posted to them. Please bear
in mind that HMRC can only accept responsibility for the security of
the data once they receive it so recommend that you consider taking
steps to secure the data in transit.
- If you cannot make your return on a spreadsheet please contact HMRC
(contact details are on your letter) to discuss alternative methods.
Compiling your spreadsheet return
- Please confine your return to a single worksheet in an Excel workbook.
Please do not use multiple tabs.
- Please retain the headings shown on the template. The order of columns
is important so please follow the template. Please do not insert additional
columns or delete any. If you do not have data to put into a column
please retain the column but leave it blank.
- When showing addresses please enter the entire address in the field
provided. Please do not use multiple fields or stack address lines one
above the other. Please do not use commas in any part of the
address.
- Please enter the postcode in the dedicated column provided.
- Please show the total amount paid for the year to
each investor. Please do not show individual payments or subtotals.
- In the column headed 'payment description' please show the following
wording for each entry: 'Credit Union interest or dividend'.
- Please do not use 'lowercase L' for 1 or 'capital o' for zero. When
entering numbers please use the digits 0-9 only and use a full stop
as the decimal point when appropriate. Please do not include commas,
spaces or currency symbols within figures.
- When entering dates please always use the British digital date format
(for example, 4 October 2010 should be entered as 04/10/2010).
Currency codes
The template asks you to enter a code for each amount to identify the
appropriate currency. These currency codes are recognised internationally.
Commonly used currency codes are:
UK Sterling - GBP
Euro - EUR
United States Dollar - USD
Canadian Dollar - CAD
Australian Dollar - AUD
Full list
of currency codes
If the currency code column in your return is blank HMRC will assume that
the amounts are in UK Sterling.
Contacts
If you need to contact HMRC about your return please use the contact details
shown on your notice.
