Not upheld: inaccurate tax reporting to HMRC complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr D complained that Santander incorrectly reported Savings Income of £3,162 to HMRC for tax year 2019-2020, resulting in overpayment of tax. He believed Santander had transmitted a cumulative running total of interest and cashback (shown on his bank statement) as annual interest due to human error. Santander explained that its BBSI reporting process is fully automated with no human intervention, and the HMRC-provided format only allows reporting of interest, not cumulative figures. The ombudsman reviewed HMRC guidance and Santander's actual reporting format and found no evidence supporting Mr D's claim, noting that the P800 correctly showed Gross Interest Paid at £210 and the Savings Income figure could have originated from other sources. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman reviewed the HMRC guidance and the actual format used by Santander for tax reporting and found that the format does not contain a section for Savings Income, only for Gross Interest Paid. The P800 correctly showed Gross Interest Paid at £210, making it impossible for Santander to have also reported a cumulative running total as Mr D claimed. Mr D provided no credible evidence supporting his theory about how the cumulative figure was transmitted, and Santander's evidence demonstrated a fully automated process with no possibility of human error. The Savings Income figure on the P800 could have come from other sources or businesses, not necessarily Santander.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website