If you are experiencing problems with your tax code

 What has happened

Every year, HTB is required to tell HMRC about any interest earned on your savings. HMRC use this information to decide what your tax code needs to be for the following year. They will also let you know if you have underpaid or overpaid any tax in the previous year. You can read more about tax on savings interest here: Tax on savings interest: How much tax you pay – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

You may have recently received a letter from HMRC saying that you earned more interest on your savings than you actually did because we provided some incorrect information to HMRC in error. We would like to sincerely apologise for this and to assure we are working on resolving the issue as quickly as possible.

As a result, HMRC may have told you that you underpaid tax in the previous year and may have adjusted your tax code accordingly or sent you a tax bill.

When it happened

The issue with HMRC occurred in early September. We are aware that some customers have already received letters from HMRC, but we believe there are still more to come.

How we have corrected it and how long it will take for HMRC to reverse any changes.

We provided HMRC with the correct information in early September and they have confirmed that they will correct their systems by Thursday, 6 October, but it may take some time for revised letters to be sent to you. If you need this issue to be resolved sooner, you can contact HMRC’s contact centre and they will be able to amend your tax code.

If you’d like instant access to your tax information, you can sign up for an account here: HMRC services: sign in or register: Sign in to HMRC online services – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

How this may impact you in the meantime

You may have received a letter from HMRC that tells you that your tax code has changed. If you are employed, this may have an effect on your salary. If you are in receipt of a pension, this may have either affected your pension payments or resulted in HMRC requesting you pay a tax bill, or both. It may also impact other things like marriage allowances and personal savings allowances.

We would like to assure you that when the issue has been resolved, these things should go back to the position you would have been in had this issue not occurred, however we understand that there may be an immediate impact to you.

What support we are offering

If the change to the tax code has caused you to require access your savings, we will allow you to withdraw funds without charge. If you wish to top the funds back up at a later date when the issue has been resolved, we will also allow this.

If you would like a statement confirming the interest you have earned, please let us know by emailing us at savings@htb.co.uk.

If you have been impacted by this issue, and have suffered financial loss, distress or inconvenience, or would like to make a complaint please contact us.  If you’ve already made a complaint, you will receive a response from us within eight weeks from the date we received it, in line with our complaints procedure, which can be viewed here.

If any of this information is required in an alternative format, you can contacts us using any of the methods listed below. We would be happy to take such requests from authorised third parties.

How you can request help (HTB and HMRC)

HTB can be contacted the following ways:

• Telephone: 020 7862 6222
• Email: savings@htb.co.uk
• Post: Savings Department, 55 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 3AS

HMRC can be contacted the following ways:

• Telephone: 0300 200 3300