Self-Employed carer ask for UTR

FloP

Hi there,

I really hope that you will be able to help me.

I am a self-employed carer working for different clients and I am doing mostly live in care jobs.

One of my clients has to use a payroll company to pay for his carers. I, therefore, send them my invoices every Friday and they pay me the following Friday.
Up till last week, I never had a problem with that, but I received an email yesterday telling me that I will need to put my UTR on my invoices or they will not be paying me. They are saying that it is "local authorities request".

I am not sure why as I have always been told that a UTR is confidential and shouldn't be disclosed. As well, a UTR is just a proof that I am registered with HMRC, not that I will actually fill in my tax returns.

I have signed a contract with each clients stating that I am responsible for my own taxes. So if that is what they are worried about, it would make more sense for them to ask for the contract.

What are your thoughts? Is asking for UTR a sensible and usual request? Can I give it or am I taking a risk?

Thanks a lot for your help.

Flo

System

Its safer than giving an employer a NI number as you can't claim benefits with a UTR number. There is absolutely no legal requirement for them to have your UTR number - you are a business sending a client an invoice. At the very most I'd be happy to provide it once but they can go whistle for having it on every invoice as there is no legal requirement to.

The payroll company doesn't do your tax, they're merely a payment processor and you need to remind them of this. I hope you're invoicing in the name of the client and not the payroll company.

FloP

Thanks a lot for your reply Tarambor.

That is exactly what I thought.

I invoice my client and he sends my invoices to the payroll company for it to be processed.
For some reason, they have sent me an email asking to put UTR on the invoice but didn't tell my client about it.
My client is happy for me not to write it on the invoice as he is covered by our contract.

I will reply to their email as follow your advice to remind them that they are only a payment processor. Thanks again