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How to use the Ftax SA800 – Step by Step Instructions
This guide covers how to submit an Ftax SA800. The following steps must be taken:
- Make sure you have the correct Government Gateway ID, Name and Password
- Login to your account and download the latest version of the Ftax SA800 form
- Complete the form including any relevant supplementary sections and the 'partnership statement'
- Attach any additional information as a PDF
- Make a test submission to ensure there are no errors
- If you are a tax agent, make a test submission to ensure there are no errors, before generating a PDF copy and fowarding it to your client to sign
- Submit the form and save the success emails in a known location
1. Make sure you have the correct Government Gateway ID, Name and Password
Firstly, you should register with the Government Gateway and ensure you have a Government Gateway User ID and Password and that the Password has been activated using the PIN sent in the post. This only needs to be done once, as the same User ID and Password may be used in future years:
2. Login to your account and download the latest version of the Ftax SA800 form
Having gathered together all relevant tax information and paperwork, you should log in to your Ftax account and download the latest version of the Ftax SA800 tax form:
For further information on getting started with Ftax, see the video Ftax Setup Checklist.
3. Complete the form including any relevant supplementary sections and the 'partnership statement'
Next, you should begin completing the form. Fill in the information on the front page of the form. Enter your Government Gateway Username and Password, along with UTR, business name and email address:
Please note that partnerships have their own UTR which is different from the partners' personal UTRs. A popup will warn you, but you must make sure that you enter the correct UTR as credits allocated to the wrong one cannot be refunded:
If you are logged in, a credit will be allocated, a popup will confirm this and a tick will appear next to the UTR:
If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to do so. You can log in anytime by clicking the red ball in the centre of the screen and selecting the bottom option:
Required information which has not been provided will be highlighted in yellow. Point the cursor at the yellow box to view a popup displaying further information:
To complete the main form, you should either click on the side bar or simply scroll down. The size of the side bar and the main window can be adjusted so that you can conveniently see the whole form no matter what size screen you are using.
You should now complete the main section of the tax return. HMRC provides 'Notes' which give further information and which are available at the top of each section:
As with all data entry, you must save the form regularly to ensure nothing is lost in the event of accident. To save the Ftax SA800, simply click the 'Save' button at the bottom of the first screen and save the file in a known location:
Make sure you complete every section of the form which is relevant. If your annual turnover was less than £85,000 for the 2020 form, you can simply fill in boxes 3.24 to 3.26 instead of page 4 but be aware that this threshold changes year on year:
To go to a supplementary section, click on the side bar to be taken directly to that section or simply scroll down.
Click 'Import' to import data which has previously been exported to an 'xfdf' file:
You also have the option to import from an account if 'export to an account' has previously been used. This can also be used to import data from the previous year's form:
You should now complete the partnership statement. There are two types of statement – short and full. You can use the short statement if your partnership has three or fewer partners and if you have only trading or professional income:
If you have more than three partners you will need to complete a full partnership statement. You can switch between the full and short partnership statements by clicking the large red button on the first page of the partnership statement:
After entering the data, each partner's share of profits, losses, income, tax credits, etc. may be calculated. This is done by entering the percentage ownership for each partner and clicking the corresponding 'Calculate' buttons which may be found in the Short or Full Partnership Statement. The partner percentages must add up to 100:
The totals for each box must equal the sum of the values for each partner. For the full partnership statement, click the 'Check Partner Totals' button. A partner value might have to be adjusted, for example to correct for a rounding error:
Both short and full partnership statements allow you to forward that information to the Ftax SA100 personal tax return to populate the SA104 Partnership section. You may then complete each partner's SA100 and submit online.
4. Attach any additional information as a PDF
If additional information is necessary, this may be attached as a PDF. These can be attached by clicking on the 'Attach PDF' button on page two of the Ftax SA800:
The video 'Adding Attachments to Ftax Forms' provides further information.
If there is more than one trade to be included in the partnership tax return, then the trade with the largest turnover should be entered on the form. Other trades must be submitted as PDF attachments to this return. This can be done by completing further copies of the Ftax SA800 form, and using the PDF Copy feature to generate the simple PDFs. Each additional trade attachment must include the Partnership Statement.
5. Make a test submission to ensure there are no errors
You may now wish to make a test submission to HMRC to check the return for errors:
For further information on this, see the video 'Test Submission to HMRC'.
6. Print a paper copy or generate a PDF for signing
If you are an agent, you are now ready to generate a PDF copy of the tax return in order to email it to your client to print and sign. Go back to the main page and click 'PDF Copy' to generate a PDF:
Follow the cascading menus and click 'Yes' on both popups:
An email will be sent confirming that you have generated the file and a download button on the success screen will allow you to download the form and save it in a known location.
7. Submit the form and save the success receipt in a known location
Finally, submit the form to HMRC. Go to the main page and ensure that test submission to HMRC is off.
Click 'Submit':
Then click 'I Agree':
And finally click 'Submit now':
A popup will ask you if you are making a new or amended return. Make sure you click 'yes' to submit a new return:
If you have already submitted, have received an email confirming successful submission and now wish to make an amendment, you should click 'No'. Please note that if you have received an error receipt you should continue to select 'new' until you receive a success receipt from a live submission.
An on screen receipt will confirm successful submission:
Two emails will then be sent, one from the Ftax servers and one from HMRC.
If you are an agent, your onscreen receipt will contain an IR mark which will match the IR mark on the PDF copy of your client's tax return:
Generating a PDF copy for your clients to sign is optional, but the matching IR marks on both the return and the receipt provides an assurance that the return the client signed is the same as that which was submitted.
You can save the entire PDF file by using the 'Save' button:
Or you can save the SA800 data in an 'xfdf' file when the export button is clicked:
The xfdf file is much smaller than the PDF. Ftax Records will automatically retain a copy of the submitted tax return data for you.
To facilitate GDPR, all Ftax accounts are now automatically subscribed to Ftax Records. Your data may be securely accessed via your Ftax account and is always encrypted when stored. If you wish any or all of your data to be deleted then you can ask Ftax support to do so, but please be aware that it would not be possible to retrieve data once it had been deleted.