Using sumifs

I am running excel 2010 on windows 7

If I create a table from scratch in a workbook I am able to use the sumifs function using ">="& a named range that contains the criteria
For example
Table name = tblTest
Column A = xYear
Column B = xAmt
I defined a range name as SelYear (a single cell)
The formula =sumifs(tbltest[xamt],tbltest[xyear],">="&SelYear)

This works just fine

However, when my table has been created by using a data connection to an access query it no longer works - just using the "=" sign works but it doesn't appear to be recognizing the ">="

Thanks