10 June 2015

Tax credits on-line renewals UPDATE

As previously reported (Blog entry 18 May 2015), for 2014/15 tax credit renewals, the instructions on the GOV.UK website mean claimants wishing to renew on-line need to follow the trial identity assurance system called GOV.UK Verify.

The Verify system is still in a trial phase and relies largely on credit history data to confirm a person’s identity and also requires the user to have a valid UK passport or photo-card driving license.This means it does not yet work adequately for everyone wishing to renew their tax credits on-line.

To address this, HMRC began running an alternative facility so that claimants who can’t use the Verify system at the time they renew (for instance because they don’t have the necessary bank/credit card statements to hand) could still renew on-line, directly with HMRC.

That second tier system (renew directly with HMRC) has recently been replaced with a lighter-touch version of Verify. This means there are there are 2 systems available for tax credit claimants to confirm their identity on-line and complete their renewal. These are the full GOV.UK Verify which gives a ‘Verified Identity Account’ (which can go on to be used to access all government on-line services) and the secondary level, Basic Identity Account (which is limited to tax credits and cannot be used across all government services). 

Either system requires the claimant to have a mobile phone in order to receive a personalised security code via SMS text which they need to complete their on-line renewal.

Claimants will still need to follow the initial few steps of the standard on-line renewal instructions on the GOV.UK website (https://www.gov.uk/renewtaxcredits) and if they can’t complete the full service at any point, they will be automatically provided with an option to select Basic Identity Account.