The Ftax team are working on a low-cost MTD for IT solution to be launched April 2026. Contact us for further information.
The Ftax team are working on a low-cost MTD for IT solution to be launched April 2026. Contact us for further information.
After downloading the latest Ftax form, saving it to a known location, and opening in a recent version of Adobe Reader, the following must be carried out before completing the Ftax return:
1. Comply with the Special Notice
This should be automatically displayed when an Ftax form is first opened in Adobe Reader. It may be redisplayed at anytime by clicking the ‘?’ in a red ball on the opening page of the Ftax form and selecting the top option. This reads:
2. Login to your Ftax Account from the form
The Ftax Account Login popup should be automatically displayed when the ‘Continue’ button is clicked (twice) on the Special Notice. This can also be displayed at anytime by clicking the ‘?’ in a red ball and selecting the bottom option.
Make sure the ‘Do NOT login to my Ftax Account’ box is unticked, and enter your Ftax Account Username and Password before clicking ‘Login’. You are also advised to first tick the ‘Save login details on computer’ box so that you remain automatically logged in.
Note: – Do not confuse your Ftax Account Username and Password with the Gateway User ID and Password.
On clicking ‘Login’ a popup should confirm ‘Login Success’. The number of remaining credits should also be displayed towards the bottom left of the Ftax form. If the popup displays the following error messages then please do as advised:
‘Communication Problem’ – This may be due to you not having Internet access, but is more likely to be due to the ‘Enhanced Security’ box still being ticked in the Adobe Reader Preferences. Please return to step 1. and correct.
‘SOAPservice not recognised …’ – This may also be due to lack of Internet access, or the Special Notice not being fully complied with as described above. But it may also be due your computer not trusting www.ftax.co.uk. Please go to Edit/Preferences/Trust Manager (or Adobe Reader/Preferences/Trust Manager if on a Mac), click ‘Change Settings’, and ensure the ftax.co.uk is trusted. Also check that any security software you may be using is not blocking access to the Ftax website. If the problem persists then try reinstalling Adobe Reader, or turn your security software off while using Ftax. If you successfully login to your Ftax Account from the form and then have a subsequent problem that requires support, be sure to tell Ftax support that you have successfully logged in.
3. Allocate a credit to the UTR
When a new UTR is entered then a popup should prompt you to ‘allocate a credit’. Another popup will confirm when the credit has been allocated. At this point a ‘credit code’ will be automatically transferred allowing the form to Calculate and Submit. If you enter a UTR that already has a credit allocated then you will be allowed to continue without allocating another credit.
If, when you enter a UTR, a popup asks you to enter a ‘4 digit credit code’ then you are not logged in to your Ftax Account. In this case please return to step 2. and login.
Important Notice: While the ‘enable enhanced security’ box is unticked you are advised not to open pdf attachments emailed from unknown addresses (emails from ftax.co.uk will be ok). You are advised to leave the ‘enable enhanced security’ box ticked when you are not using Ftax.
The rules for Class 2 NIC have changed for the 2023/23 tax year onwards.
Prior to the 2022/23 tax year you needed to pay Class 2 NIC if your profits were above the Small Profits Threshold, which was £6,515 in the 2021/22 tax year.
For 2022/23 onwards, you pay Class 2 NIC if your profits are above the Lower Profits Limit,(which is £11,908 in 2022/23). If your profits are below the Small Profits Threshold (£6,725 in 2022/23) then you can choose to pay voluntary Class 2 NIC. If your profits from self-employment are between the Small Profits Threshold and the Lower Profits Limit then there is no Class 2 NIC to pay – instead you will be treated as making Class 2 NIC. This will mean you will be able to access entitlement to contributory benefits in the same way as if you had paid Class 2 NIC.
For 2023/24 onwards, the Lower Profits Limit will be the same amount as the personal allowance for income tax.
Further information on this is available from the Government website here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-national-insurance-contributions/rates-and-allowances-national-insurance-contributions
The full error message reads:
Government Gateway log-in failure, please check your User ID, UTR and Gateway password are correct. You can check your User ID and password are valid by logging into the Inland Revenue portal at https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/home. If you view your statement after logging in you will also see confirmation of your UTR.
This error message is always correct and is caused by an error in the entry of the User ID, Password, or UTR on the front page of the Ftax form. Common mistakes include entering an inappropriate UTR, e.g. the Partnership UTR instead of the Individual UTR. Characters are sometimes entered incorrectly, e.g. an ‘l’ can be entered instead of an ‘1’, or an ‘S’ entered instead of a ‘5’. Please check very carefully. Also check that your Password has been activated using the PIN sent to you in the post by Government Gateway when you first registered for online filing.
== You must login using your email address and password ==
== Your email is your username ==
If you have forgotten your password, click ‘Forgot Password’ on the log-in screen and follow the on screen prompts.
If you have opened an Ftax form and have previously saved your login details on your computer, these may no longer work and the form will show:
If you know your email address registered with your Ftax account, you can simply ignore this (Click OK) and log the form into your Ftax account using your email address and existing password.
You can access the login box at any time from a form by clicking the red question mark on the front page and selecting Ftax Account Login.
If you don’t know what email address you have registered with your Ftax account, you can recover your account by accessing the Ftax website at www.ftax.co.uk and clicking LOGIN in the top right hand corner. From the login screen select “recover your account” to access the “Forgot Email” box. Follow the instructions and an email reminder will be sent to your registered email address.
If you don’t have an email address registered with your Ftax account, or you no longer have access to your registered email account, you can recover your account by accessing the Ftax website at www.ftax.co.uk and clicking LOGIN in the top right hand corner. From the login screen select “recover your account” to access the “Forgot Email” box. Follow the instructions to send an email reminder then click ‘I did not receive the email’ on the website to be re-directed to a ‘Reset Unknown Account’ form. Complete this form and we will be in touch with you.
If you experience a problem using the automated password/username recovery system (described above) then please send an email to support@ftax.co.uk which includes the email address used when registering with Ftax, or/and your Ftax Account username. The Ftax Support team can then manually recover your Ftax Account logon details.
If you are experiencing problems when logging into you Ftax Account from an Ftax form, by clicking the ‘?’ in a red ball on the opening page and select the bottom option, then run through the Ftax Setup Checklist either via the FAQ or via the video. If your Ftax Account password contains any character other than alphanumerics or the following characters ‘@ . ! $ % * ? _ – +’, then login to your Ftax Account on the website, go to Account Details, and change the password.
Warning: be careful not to confuse your Ftax Account username and password with you HMRC Gateway User ID and Password.
It appears that AVG and Avast are incorrectly identifying some Ftax pdfs as malicious (reporting code JS:Pdfka-gen [Expl]).
Below is a brief description of the situation followed by steps you may wish to take to continue using Ftax.
We routinely scan all our files internally and have identified no problems.
We have submitted affected files for further scans to http://www.virustotal.com (which is owned by google’s parent company). This site aggregates the results of a wide range of different virus checkers and showed that only very small number of the 62 virus checkers it uses, identify the problem.
An example can be seen here:
We reported samples to the affected vendors as false positives. One of the vendors has already responded stating that the detection was incorrect (AVG) and that they will be updating their software as a matter of urgency. We expect the others to follow suit.
If you are affected, and you wish to stop the behaviour, you can exclude specific websites and files from being scanned.
For example, AVG users
For example, Avast users
https://support.avast.com/en-gb/article/Antivirus-scan-exclusions/
We would also encourage you to add the pdf file to your Quarantine/Virus Chest and submit it as a false positive to AVG/Avast Threat Labs from there
For example, AVG users
https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?l=en&urlName=Use-AVG-Quarantine&supportType=home
For example, Avast users
There appears to be a problem with the latest versions of Acrobat Reader 2021.001.20135 and 2021.001.20138 which causes Ftax forms to run slowly at times, or not to respond.
If you install a previous version of Acrobat Reader, this problem will be overcome.
To install a previous version (Windows users):
First, uninstall your current version of Acrobat Reader.
1. Click the start menu and right click Acrobat Reader DC.
2. From the menu that pops up, select Uninstall to access the Programs and Features control panel.
3. Select Adobe Acrobat Reader DC from the list of programs and click Uninstall from the top to start the uninstall process.
4. Follow the windows prompts until the software uninstalls.
Second, Download and install a previous version of Acrobat Reader from Adobe.
1. Open a Windows Explorer/File Explorer window (press Win+E).
2. Click to select the Address bar.
If the Address bar isn’t visible in Windows XP, choose View > Address Bar
3. In the address bar type the address of Adobe’s software storage:
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/
for windows, or
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/mac/
for mac, and press enter.
Note: This is a Windows Explorer/File Explorer window not a browser window.
4. You should be presented with a file structure of previous versions of Reader.
We have identified that the problem does not occur if you use AcrobatDC 2001320064.
If you wish to download and install this version, open the ReaderDC folder, then open the 2001320064 folder and copy the file AcroRdrDC2001320064_en_US.exe to your computer by dragging it onto your desktop (or other location). This is the english language version, other versions are available.
5. Once the file is downloaded onto your computer, double click the file to start the installation, and follow the Adobe prompts.
Don’t forget, you will need to follow the setup checklist again with your new software:
What should I check before using Ftax? (Ftax Setup Checklist)
If Acrobat Reader updates to the latest version and Adobe have not fixed this problem, you will need to follow this process again.
If you have any problems uninstalling Acrobat Reader, Adobe have produced a tool called AcroCleaner to help:
https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html
HMRC have recently changed their specification to accept a wide range of non-alphanumeric characters, and a password length of greater than 12 characters.
Ftax are in the process of updating their forms to the same HMRC specification. We expect to have this work completed by April 2021, ready for the new tax year’s forms.
In the meantime, please ensure that your HMRC password contains only alphanumerics and is no longer than 12 characters. To change this, you need to use your HMRC account.
Click the ‘?’ in a red ball, select the bottom option, and log into your Ftax Account again.
Then, clear the UTR and enter it again to ensure a credit has been allocated and a tick appears to the right of the UTR.
Then submit again.
Adobe Reader is setup to automatically update periodically when you are connected to the internet. There is no preference within Reader which allows you to change this behaviour.
If you wish to, one way to stop the updates for Windows10, is:
1. Click the Windows Search box (the question mark) and type ‘services’ then click the Services App to open it.
2. Right-click the ‘Adobe Acrobat Update Service’ in the right hand pane of the app and select ‘Properties’ from the menu that appears.
3. On the ‘General’ tab, change the ‘Startup type’ to ‘Disabled’, then click ‘Apply’.
4 Still on the ‘General’ tab, click the ‘Stop’ button to stop the service.
5. Click ‘OK’ to close the dialogue box then close the ‘Services’ app (click the X in the top right).
To re-start the automatic updates for Windows10, the process similar: