Unique Taxpayer Reference

[gavinwye]

10 digit number used in LISA and other services. We need to standardise this.

[chriswaugh]

Note that in LISA it's possible the users may have a 13 digit UTR number. If that's the case we ask that they only provide the last 10 digits.

[stevenaproctor]

@jennifer-hodgson This is from AWRS.

These are from business matching.

[jennifer-hodgson]

This from Soft Drinks Industry Levy
Prototype here: https://www.prototypes.tax.service.gov.uk/sdil-prototype/register/4-0/identify

[jennifer-hodgson]

This from Lifetime ISA
Prototype here: https://www.prototypes.tax.service.gov.uk/lisa-prototype/sixteenth-iteration/non-isa/llp-reference-numbers

[jennifer-hodgson]

This from Register a company
Prototype here: https://www.prototypes.tax.service.gov.uk/business-registration-prototype/1-73-0/incorporation/GroupUTR

[stevenaproctor]

From pay online.
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/pay-online/self-assessment

[gordonmcmullan]

Discussion Summary of References/Identifies from the hackday

[jonathaninch]

Issues we have asking for a UTR in the PODS service:

(1) the pattern says we should allow users to enter 10 or 13 numbers, with or without spaces and a k, and then strip the unnecessary characters. Our service can only send 10 digits to ETMP, so would have to strip extra characters anyway. The problem then is that when the UTR is played back to the user (e.g. when they return to the service at a later date) we can only retrieve the 10-digit UTR from ETMP and play it back to the user. Their first reaction is likely to be "hold on, that's not right - the number I entered was 13 digits / had a space / had a k" etc etc.

(2) the hint text states "This is 10 numbers, for example 1234567890". We feel this can be as confusing as it is helpful: sometimes a paper UTR is in the format xxx xxxxx xxxxx, sometimes xxxxxxxxxx, sometimes xxxxx xxxxx (and there's probably more combinations than that!). We're allowing a user to enter k's and spaces and more numbers than they should, as we know how different the UTR can be presented to them, but then showing the single format example could make them unsure that they have the right number to enter in the first place.

On PODS we ask for a UTR over two pages - (a) do you have a UTR? (as not every user will have one), and if yes (b) what is your UTR? We have prototyped the content for this as follows (based primarily on design and UR that AMLS have already successfully done):

(a) Does [USER] have a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)? with supporting text of "This is a 10-digit or 13-digit number. You can find it on tax returns and other documents from HMRC. It might be called ‘reference’, ‘UTR’ or ‘official use’."
(b) What is [USER]'s UTR? with supporting text of "If the UTR is 13 numbers, only enter the last 10." and "If there is a letter ‘K’ at the end of the number, do not enter it."

As mentioned this support text has been successfully tested by AMLS (minus the letter 'k' portion which they did not include). We will likewise test this and feed back on outcomes.

[terrysimpson99]

@jonathaninch I just came here with a question related your point (1) that I originally posted in slack but got no response:

Guidance at https://design.tax.service.gov.uk/hmrc-design-patterns/unique-taxpayer-reference/ says "Remove spaces, characters and extra numbers before validating." I'm confident about making a case within our team for removing spaces and punctuation. I'm less confident about making the case for removing extra digits. Can anybody give me the reason for removing extra digits so I can make the case to colleagues?

[JillRichardsonPratt]

The pattern's hint text link content includes "UTR number" but the HMRC style guide says: "Not ‘Unique Taxpayer Reference number’ or ‘Unique Taxpayer Reference Number’". Should the word 'number' be removed from the pattern?

[Jon-Rowe-HMRC]

Thanks @JillRichardsonPratt this pattern is currently under review for other amendments, so we'll look at this as part of the update

[Colin172A]

I think most services will have the Find a lost UTR link open in a new tab. So that users can stay in the service. Is it possible to add '(opens in new tab)' to the Find a lost UTR link? Accessibility tests have flagged this- that we should add '(opens in new tab)'

The Welsh translation in the pattern has the entire text as a hyperlink for 'You can find a lost UTR', but the English version has the hyperlink only on the 'find a lost UTR' part of the text. Is this correct?

[Jon-Rowe-HMRC]

Thanks for the feedback @Colin172A we've updated the pattern

[Colin172A]

Thanks for the feedback @Colin172A we've updated the pattern

Hi again. We noticed that the Welsh translation for "You can find a lost UTR" was different in our service to the translation on the pattern. I checked this with the Welsh translation team. They've confirmed the correct translation is:
Gallwch ddod o hyd i UTR sydd ar goll (yn agor tab newydd)

[Colin172A]

Hi,
I attended an accessibility presentation about dyscalculia.

One of the principles is to add spacing around numbers to make them easier to read. This is done for the National Insurance number pattern. Could the same be applied to the example UTR in the hint text?

[Jon-Rowe-HMRC]

Hi @Colin172A I've updated the welsh.

Regarding how we show reference numbers, I'll raise this with our content designer when they start later this month (it's been a vacant position for some time). It would mean changes across several patterns and potentially style guide entries.

[rachelmalic]

The guidance says 'Remove spaces, characters and extra numbers before validating.'

I think this has already been asked above, but if someone enters too many numbers, how do you know which ones to remove?

At the moment we've just been stripping out anything which can not be a valid character. If there are too many digits we display an error message to let the user know.

[jeanesims]

The existing pattern assumes that someone would only be able to find their UTR in an offline format like a letter. Users are likely to be able to access online systems too and may already be signed into GG and able to access their PTA or have the HMRC app.

Can the pattern be updated to include signposting (with links) to PTA and the HMRC app, as per the GOV.UK guidance?

Also is there any way people could be signposted to a place where they can get a copy of their UTR if they have lost it, as per the guidance?

Also, as a UTR can be between 10 and 13 characters, advising a user that it's 10 numbers is likely to confuse users who have a 13 character ref on a document or letter. Could the hint text be updated to accommodate this?

[Colin172A]

The existing pattern assumes that someone would only be able to find their UTR in an offline format like a letter. Users are likely to be able to access online systems too and may already be signed into GG and able to access their PTA or have the HMRC app.

Can the pattern be updated to include signposting (with links) to PTA and the HMRC app, as per the GOV.UK guidance?

Also is there any way people could be signposted to a place where they can get a copy of their UTR if they have lost it, as per the guidance?

Also, as a UTR can be between 10 and 13 characters, advising a user that it's 10 numbers is likely to confuse users who have a 13 character ref on a document or letter. Could the hint text be updated to accommodate this?

Another option could be to change the wording of the link from "You can find a lost UTR" to "Find your UTR". This matches the heading on the page that the link takes you to.

It also removes the assumption that the UTR is 'lost' and the link is only for users who have 'lost' it. It might not be lost, the user might just need to find out which online services allow them to view the UTR, which is what the "Find your UTR" page primarily provides. Changing it to "Find your UTR" accommodates both types of user- those who lost the UTR and those who just need help to look it up online.

[jeanesims]

@Colin172A I agree that changing the text to 'find your UTR' would be clearer.

My concern is that it seems from the screenshots of pages for the 'Enter a UTR page' that I've seen that often that first line of the text from the pattern isn't included when screens are developed so often the only guidance people have is the hint text telling them to look at a letter etc.

Having hint text that specifically says you can find your UTR in the HMRC app or your personal tax account will help people self serve. (Also telling people that UTRs can be 10 to 13 characters rather than just 10 numbers.

I'm suggesting something like this mock up below. It would mean the link in the pattern could be removed, which would keep people on the page.

An option without the links.

An option which groups the instructions on where to find the UTR together.

[Colin172A]

@jeanesims the mockup looks good. Better to keep users on the screen than send them to another page to read through.

For Corporation Tax is there an online service they can use to look it up? I am not sure if they can get it from the HMRC app or is the only way to get it from paper documents?

I guess the text would still need a link for users who have lost/cannot find their UTR so they can get guidance about having it sent out in the post?

[jeanesims]

@Colin172A
Here's a version with the signpost for those who can't find their UTR

[JackHMRC]

Thanks for these suggestions, we're taking them into account as we prepare our revised pattern. We would also like to address Rachel's initial concern around validation, removing characters etc.

Would you know of anyone we could reach out to to discuss how validation is handled? I'd particularly like to find out if the 'k' character in some UTR's is actually needed.

[jeanesims]

Here's a suggestion for CTUTR

The link above the green button would go here for CT https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/ask-for-copy-of-your-corporation-tax-utr?_ga=2.197867372.2131649915.1692788962-79046079.1665746662

[jeanesims]

@JackHMRC - @adamliptrot-oc would be a good person to speak to about this

[JackHMRC]

Thanks Jean, I'll update as we progress :)

[rachelmalic]

If someone signs in to their tax account then hopefully they will no longer need to enter their UTR, as we'd know it? This might depend on which service the user is in.

For paying Corporation Tax we have started to tell people that if you don't know your reference you can sign in and it will be filled in automatically. The user isn't expected to come back and enter it once they've found it, as we'll populate it for them.

[rachelmalic]

Also, we've recently noticed that a lot of people include the letters 'UTR' at the start when entering their Unique Taxpayer Reference. Maybe we should strip these letters out before validation and accept the reference if it's otherwise formatted correctly? To save the user seeing an error message.

[jeanesims]

People use different GG user IDs to sign into services and this means that each service has to develop pathways for data, like a UTR, to be pulled in. If a service wants to pull in a UTR for example this has to be developed so isn't automatic.

So someone might sign into GG and a service to report 'magicians tax' using a GG User ID that is different to the one they use for Self Assessment and because the magicians tax service hasn't built a way for a UTR to be pulled into that service, the user will still need to enter it even though they are signed into GG.

[jeanesims]

One of the easiest ways to find your UTR is using the HMRC app. A lot of people find using the app easier than going to PTA. It would help users if the app were mentioned here along side PTA in the pattern. Is there any way it could be added to the SAUTR version?

[richardhattonUX]

In this current iteration of the design, the input doesnt have an aria-describedby attribute so there is no hint text, just a standard paragraph that is not announced when the user is focused on the input.

I would have thought the paragraph about what the UTR is and the format of the UTR would have been hint text?

[Jon-Rowe-HMRC]

Hi @richardhattonUX

The full description includes a link, which shouldn't be included in hint text.

The optimal accessibility approach for these UTR examples is beyond my knowledge, but the latest version was created with the help of some of our accessibility experts.

[adamliptrot-oc]

@richardhattonUX @Jon-Rowe-HMRC I think the difficulty is in trying to achieve an outcome by staying as close to out-of-the-box implementation of components as possible.
We could improve the current pattern by including an aria link to the hint text from the input even though it sits outside the form control:

h1 "What is your UTR?"
p[id="utr-hint"] "Your UTR can be ..."
p link:"How to find your UTR"
label.govuk-visually-hidden "What is your UTR?"
input[aria-describedby="utr-hint"]

Which would expose the format information whilst not including the link.
The difficulty is in communicating this requirement to the developers/IXD in the pattern.

However I think there is currently an issue with the pattern communication as visually it does look like the h1 is meant to be the label and the two paragraphs the hint. It is only when examining the code (which I expect not everyone does if it looks simple) that you realise it is not marked up in that way. The "Place the question on its own page. " instruction is not obvious enough considering this is a departure from the norm.

[richardhattonUX]

@Jon-Rowe-HMRC I think @adamliptrot-oc has articulated the issue I had better than I did.

[Jon-Rowe-HMRC]

Thanks @adamliptrot-oc and @richardhattonUX. The design resources team is working on an iteration of the examples and guidance.

[timsb]

Hi @adamliptrot-oc & @richardhattonUX, We've been looking into this on the design resources team and have another suggestion of using the standard GOV.UK complex question pattern. The content isn't final but as an example:

h1 "Your Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)"
p "Your UTR can be ..."
p link:"How to find your UTR"
label: "What is your UTR?"
input

There are some benefits to this over the other patterns:

• There's no hidden code complexity such as visually hidden text or aria-describedby attributes so will be less likely for people to code it incorrectly
• It uses the standard GOV.UK Design System pattern

The downsides I can think of are:

• No association between input and "hint" text
• It's a slightly bigger change visually from what currently exists

I think the pros of this approach outweigh the cons.
Any thoughts from yourselves?

[shabana-ali]

Hi @timsb,

I think that the complex question approach is better (I am not a fan of hiding labels).

Looking at the copy on the UTR pattern, there is formatting content that could be added as hint text and the remaining as the into text, e.g.

h1 "Your Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)"
p "You can find it in your Personal Tax Account, the HMRC app or on tax returns and other documents from HMRC. It might be called ‘reference’, ‘UTR’ or ‘official use’."
p link:"How to find your UTR (opens in new tab)"
label: "What is your UTR?"
hint: "Can be 10 or 13 digits long"
input

Just an idea to accommodate one of the downsides.

[kerry-a-H]

Hi all, I was wondering why we don't have a pattern for Partnership UTR?

A need has been called out in our service to ask for Partnership UTR. This is to ensure if a user is part of/reporting on behalf of a partnership they enter the UTR of the partnership itself, and not the SA UTR of one of the partners.
We've been using this wording that I adapted slightly from the SA UTR wording based off this gov.uk site.

This wording appears if they selected "Partnership" or "Limited partnership or limited liability partnership" to "What type of business are you?" in the previous screen.

Any thoughts on this wording? And is it worth creating a Partnership UTR pattern?

[Jon-Rowe-HMRC]

Thanks @kerry-a-H we've added a partnership example: https://design.tax.service.gov.uk/hmrc-design-patterns/unique-taxpayer-reference/