Individuals State Benefits (MTD) API
| Available in Sandbox | Yes |
|---|---|
| Sandbox base URL | https://test-api.service.hmrc.gov.uk |
| Available in Production | Yes |
| Production base URL | https://api.service.hmrc.gov.uk |
Overview
This API allows developers to:
- list and retrieve state benefits
- create, amend or delete customer added state benefits
- create or amend benefits financial data
- mark a state benefit as ignored
Amendments to customer added state benefit or HMRC held state benefit must be made after the tax year has ended.
Amendments to Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) or Employment Support Allowance (ESA) may be made at any time. For information on how to connect to this API see the Income Tax MTD end-to-end service guide.
Mapping APIs to Self Assessment tax return forms
Some parameters in this API map to box numbers in one or more Self Assessment tax return forms. To learn more and to download this mapping information as a CSV file, go to income-tax-mtd-changelog/mapping on GitHub.
Errors
We use standard HTTP status codes to show whether an API request succeeded or not. They are usually in the range:
- 200 to 299 if it succeeded, including code 202 if it was accepted by an API that needs to wait for further action
- 400 to 499 if it failed because of a client error by your application
- 500 to 599 if it failed because of an error on our server
Errors specific to each API are shown in the Endpoints section, under Response. See our reference guide for more on errors.
Single errors will be returned in the following format:
{
"code": "FORMAT_FIELD_NAME",
"message": "The provided FieldName is invalid"
}
Where possible, multiple errors will be returned with INVALID_REQUEST in the following format:
{
"code": "INVALID_REQUEST",
"message": "Invalid request",
"errors": [
{
"code": "RULE_FIELD_NAME",
"message": "The provided FieldName is not allowed"
},
{
"code": "FORMAT_FIELD_NAME",
"message": "The provided FieldName is invalid"
}
]
}
Where it is possible for the same error to be returned multiple times, message will describe the expected format and paths will show the fields which are invalid.
Where arrays are submitted a number indicates the object in the array sequence, for example, /arrayName/1/fieldName
An example with single error:
{
"code": "FORMAT_STRING_NAME",
"message": "The provided field is not valid",
"paths": [ "/arrayName/0/fieldName" ]
}
An example with multiple errors:
{
"code": "INVALID_REQUEST",
"message": "Invalid request",
"errors": [
{
"code": "FORMAT_VALUE",
"message": "The field should be between 0 and 99999999999.99",
"paths": [ "/objectName/fieldName1", "/arrayName/0/fieldName2" ]
},
{
"code": "FORMAT_STRING_NAME",
"message": "The provided field is not valid",
"paths": [ "/arrayName/0/fieldName3", "/arrayName/1/fieldName3" ]
}
]
}
Testing
You can use the sandbox environment to test this API. You can use the Create Test User API or it's frontend service to create test users.
It may not be possible to test all scenarios in the sandbox. You can test some scenarios by passing the Gov-Test-Scenario header. Documentation for each endpoint includes a Test data section, which explains the scenarios that you can simulate using the Gov-Test-Scenario header.
If you have a specific testing need that is not supported in the sandbox, contact our support team.
Some APIs may be marked [test only]. This means that they are not available for use in production and may change.
Dynamic
Some endpoints support DYNAMIC gov test scenarios. The response is dynamic based on the request parameters:
- List State Benefits
Stateful
Some endpoints support STATEFUL gov test scenarios. Stateful scenarios work with groups of endpoints that represent particular types of submissions. For each type you can POST (or PUT) to submit or amend data, GET to retrieve or list data and DELETE to delete data. For example, with a STATEFUL gov test scenario a retrieval will return data based on what you submitted.
The following endpoints are stateful in the sandbox:
- Create State Benefit
- Amend State Benefit
- Delete State Benefit
- List State Benefits
- Amend State Benefit Amounts
- Delete State Benefit Amounts
Versioning
When an API changes in a way that is backwards-incompatible, we increase the version number of the API. See our reference guide for more on versioning.
Endpoints
View API endpointsWhy do these endpoints look different?
The endpoints for this API now use the Open API Specification (OAS).
The API has not changed. You do not need to make any updates to your application if you already use this API.