ERROR: We have been unable to enrol you for Self Assessment (SA). Either the details

RDB

ERROR: We have been unable to enrol you for Self Assessment (SA). Either the details you have entered are incorrect, or you have already enrolled for this service. Please check your details and try again.
If the problem persists contact the HM Revenue & Customs Online Services Helpdesk or select next to continue.

lisyloo

Hi,

Have you been asked to do self assesement?
You cannnot simply go on and register without persmission from HMRC.
You need them to enable it.
I am not allowed to do it.

negg

You cannnot simply go on and register without persmission from HMRC.

Really? I get the same error message and I thought they were trying to encourage people to use the internet?

How do you get permission?

lisyloo

Really?

Yes really (inCardiff tax office anyway).
My affairs are realtively simple and they won't let me use it despite my protestations.

and I thought they were trying to encourage people to use the internet?

I think it's on cost grounds.
If you affairs are simple then they have other methods.
There's a form (P810??) for people with simple affairs e.g. employees with pension schemes or benefits or savings.
I have been told to write a letter each year.
Might be different in other tax offices, mine is Cardiff and they refuse to register me for it and I can't get signed up as I don't have the UTR required.

How do you get permission?

Call them up and they will sort it.
You might have to wait for a reference number in the post (you can't sign up without a UTR- unique tax reference).

[Deleted User]

I had to fill in a tax return for the first time this year and I phoned up to ask for a UTR. They wouldn't do anything about it over the phone and told me that I had to write in. I wrote a letter and then finally received my UTR 2-3 months later! If you write a letter, you need to say why you have to submit a tax return - there is a list of qualifying conditions on the HMRC website.

One other thing to beware of is that, even when you have your UTR, you cannot start using SA online immediately. After signing up on the website, you have to wait up to 7 days for an activation pin number.

Paul_Herring

For those of us who have filed online in previous years, the site /is/ working.

From what I remember, you need to enroll to the SA service (which involves them sending you snail-mail authentication details which you need to enter into the site.)

Naturally, in order to enroll, you have to be 'eligible' to file a self assessment to begin with - which, as lisyloo points out, they can sometimes argue with.

My previous arguments were that (my then) work were unhelpfully deducting the wrong amount of tax (I reclaimed ~1.5K over two years,) and later, that I had two jobs (I did,) and currently I have rental income.

If all you're wanting to report is, e.g., savings interest you need to pay upper rate tax on, then you don't need to file the full SA (runs to 10's of pages,) and there's a 1-2 page form you can fill out instead.