Two weeks. That's the action window HM Revenue and Customs requires staff to set when a claimant or their appointee asks to stop tax credits being paid into a foreign bank account. The requirement, recorded in HMRC guidance TCM0046120, also instructs staff to route the request immediately to the Bank Liaison team and to await return of form TC687 before making any further changes to the claim. For claimants of Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, and for the staff who manage their cases, the rule creates a defined pause in processing while Bank Liaison verifies the request.

Claimants whose tax credits are paid into overseas accounts may find other changes frozen until Bank Liaison returns form TC687, because HMRC requires caseworkers to channel stop-payment requests through that specialised team.

How staff must handle a stop-payment request

The manual TCM0046120 sets out a six-step process for caseworkers dealing with requests to stop payments into a foreign account. First, staff must check whether the change can be made by following the procedure in TCM0042260. Second, if the change is to be processed, the caller or their authorised appointee must be authenticated in accordance with TCM0094120. If authentication fails on the phone, staff must tell the caller to submit the request in writing and take no further action.

Third, when authentication succeeds, staff complete form TC687, attach any relevant correspondence, and send the paperwork to the Bank Liaison team. The manual records that some content about the process of sending TC687 is withheld under exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Fourth, after sending TC687, caseworkers must use the Function MAINTAIN WORKLIST, select the Verification Failures Work List, and on the Worklist Entry Details screen set an action date for two weeks with the Retained checkbox ticked while they await Bank Liaison's response.

Fifth, if Bank Liaison doesn't reply before the BF period expires, staff must contact Bank Liaison to determine the next steps. If Bank Liaison requests an action by the caseworker, staff must wait until TC687 is returned before proceeding. If no immediate action is required, the manual directs staff to set another two-week action date with the Retained checkbox ticked and continue to wait for TC687. The guidance is explicit: no further change to the claim may be made until Bank Liaison returns the form and confirms the required action.

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What happens once Bank Liaison replies

When Bank Liaison replies, the team will confirm that the customer no longer wants payments sent to the foreign account and will instruct the caseworker to obtain alternative account details. At that point caseworkers must contact the customer or their appointee, re-authenticate them under TCM0094120, and obtain new bank account information.

Entry of the replacement bank details must then follow the guidance set out in TCM0046020.

The procedural chain is therefore tightly prescribed. A stop-payment request triggers an authentication check, the completion and transmission of TC687, and a two-week holding pattern on the Verification Failures Work List until Bank Liaison acts. If Bank Liaison requires nothing of the caseworker immediately, the team still expects staff to keep the case on a retained two-week cycle while awaiting formal confirmation. That insistence on a returned TC687 as the gateway to any subsequent change is central to the manual's control over foreign payment cases.

The guidance sits within HMRC's published collection of tax credits manuals and complements the Tax Credits Technical Manual, which covers law, entitlement, calculations, and payments. The government listings and those manuals remain the authoritative source for procedural and technical guidance on Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit cases. This policy therefore affects both claimants with payments routed overseas and the HMRC staff who operate these payment controls.

The manual's careful sequencing also creates practical friction. For claimants seeking to stop payments to a foreign account and to supply an alternative quickly, the two-week action dates and the need for re-authentication and formal return of TC687 mean that an administrative pause is likely even when customers act promptly. For HMRC caseworkers the steps set a clear audit trail and a single point of verification through Bank Liaison.

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The one concrete hinge in the process is form TC687: HMRC caseworkers must receive it back from Bank Liaison before they can enter new account details or make any other change to the claim.

This article was created with AI assistance.