For a commuting n-tuple a = ( a 1 , … , a n ) a = ({a_1}, \ldots ,{a_n}) of elements of a unital C ∗ {C^ \ast } -algebra A \mathcal {A} , we establish a matricial identity linking the self-commutator of a to the 2 n − 1 × 2 n − 1 {2^{n - 1}} \times {2^{n - 1}} matrix a ^ \hat a that detects the Taylor invertibility of a. As a consequence, we obtain a simple proof of a result of D. Xia (Oper. Theory: Adv. Appl. 48 (1990), 423-448), which states that for commuting t-hyponormal n-tuples, σ T ( a ) = σ r ( a ) {\sigma _T}(a) = {\sigma _r}(a) .