Making payments to HM Revenue & Customs

Contents

When to make payment

Each tax month you must pay your Accounts Office all the amounts due for that tax month for:

  • Income Tax:
    • Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
    • deductions from subcontractors
  • Student Loan deductions
  • National Insurance contributions (NICs).

The day your payment needs to reach us depends on what

payment method you use.

  • If you pay electronically or through your bank or Post Office, your cleared payment for the full amount due must reach our account no later than 22nd of the month.
  • Where the 22nd falls on a weekend or is a bank holiday, your cleared payment must reach us on the previous bank working day.
  • Employers who are not subject to the mandator electronic payment rules and who continue to pay by post must ensure that payment reaches us no later than 19th of the month.

When paying electronically you need to allow enough time for your payment to reach us. Except for CHAPS which is a same day payment transfer facility, it normally takes three bank working days for payment to reach us. Some banks and building societies take longer. You will need to check how long your bank or building society takes and what their cut-off time is for initiating payment. Billpay payment reaches us on the third bank working day after your transaction.

Interest and surcharge

We charge interest on:

  • any payment made electronically or through your bank or Post Office that clears our bank account after 22 April following the end of the tax year, and
  • for employers not subject to the mandatory electronic payment rules any cheque payment that reaches us after 19 April following the end of the tax year.

Large employers who are subject to the mandatory electronic payment rules are liable to surcharge if any portion of their monthly PAYE/NIC payment is late.

Payslip booklet

You need a payslip booklet to pay through your bank, a Post Office or if you post us a cheque. You do not need a payslip booklet if you pay us electronically.

To stop us issuing booklets for future years:

  • follow the guidance on our How to Pay pages
  • contact your Accounts Office.

If you do not pay electronically and do not receive your P30BC Payslip Booklet in time to make your payments, contact your Accounts Office immediately.

Quarterly payment option for small employers

If your average monthly payments of PAYE, deductions from subcontractors, Student Loan deductions and/or NICs for the current year are likely to be less than £1,500, you can choose to pay your Accounts Office quarterly rather than monthly.

The tax quarters end on:

  • 5 July
  • 5 October
  • 5 January, and
  • 5 April

which means your cleared electronic payments are due by 22nd of the month in which the quarter ends or, if you pay by cheque, by the earlier date of the 19th of that month.

How the payments are calculated

In most cases the payments will be calculated for each month/quarter by:

PAYE

  • adding together all the:
    • tax that you have deducted from or refunded to your employees
    • deductions from payments made to subcontractors
    • Student Loan deductions made from your employees

NICs

  • adding together all the employees’ and employer’s NICs due, and
  • subtracting any:
    • SSP you are entitled to recover
    • SMP/SPP/SAP and/or NIC compensation you are entitled to recover.

Correcting an error

If you make a mistake when working out how much to pay to your Accounts Office, you can put it right by adjusting your next payment.

If you discover a mistake after the tax year has ended, contact:

  • the Employer Helpline by calling 08457 143 143 for advice about NICs, SSP, SMP/SPP/SAP, Student Loan Deductions or
  • your HM Revenue & Customs office for advice about PAYE.

Keeping records

We may ask to inspect your records to make sure that you have paid all the tax and NICs due. If you have not, we may make estimates that you will have to pay. Both the P32 Employer Payment Record and the P30BC, Payslip Booklet, pages 4 and 5, are designed to:

  • help you make the calculations referred to above
  • record your payments.

You only need to use one of these forms to keep your records.

There is an on screen version of the form P32 on your CD-ROM. It shows you how much PAYE tax, National Insurance Contributions and Student Loan deductions are due to HMRC each month for all your employees entered on the P11 Calculator. It can also act as a record of payments made.

These forms will also help you fill in your P35, Employer Annual Return, at the end of the year.

Making a payment

Large employers, those who have 250 or more employees whom we have notified, have to make their monthly payments electronically.

We accept payment by a range of methods but we recommend payment is made electronically through your bank’s internet/telephone banking service, by BACS Direct Credit or CHAPS. You can also pay by debit card over the internet. If you sign up with the BillPay service, you will be able to view your payment transaction and a history of your payments made via BillPay. Electronic payments are generally more efficient and secure than payment by post.

We also treat as electronic any payment made by Bank Giro or at the Post Office. If paying by Bank Giro, take your payslip, P30B, with payment to your own bank branch. Other banks may refuse to accept it or charge you for this service. Again, payment made by these methods is more secure than a payment sent in the post.

Where a payment is made by post, please send it with your completed payslip, P30B, to the Accounts Office in one of the envelopes we sent you.

For more information about how to pay please:

  • visit the How To Pay area
  • contact your Accounts Office:
    • Accounts Office Shipley
    • Phone 0845 366 7816
    • email: AOS
    • Accounts Office Cumbernauld
    • Phone 0845 366 7816
    • email: AOC

When you pay by Bank Giro, at a Post Office, or by post you must complete a payslip, P30B:

Use the information from the P32, or the table on pages 4 and 5 of your P30BC, to fill in the P30B as follows:

P30B box heading

P30BC or P32

column number

Amount due

14

If, at the end of a month/quarter:

  • you have no payments to make, you should inform HM Revenue & Customs. Unless you tell us on or before the payment date that nothing is due, a payment reminder may be issued. You can let us know by:
    • completing the online ‘No PAYE/NIC Payment due form
      The online ‘No PAYE/NIC Payment due’ form is a new service and the most convenient and cost effective way to let us know that no payment is due

    • returning a signed payslip, form P30B, for the correct month marked ‘Nil due’
    • phoning 0845 366 7816 to say no payment is due for a particular month/quarter, quoting your Accounts Office reference number.
  • the total recoverable SSP/SMP/SPP/SAP and/or NIC compensation claimed is more than the NICs payable, enter the excess in column 13 of your P32 or P30BC with the letter ‘M’ (for minus) in front. Where you are paying by Bank Giro, at a Post Office, or by post, put the total amount of tax and NICs into the single ‘Amount due’ box.
  • the ‘Amount due’ in column 14 of your P32 or P30BC is a minus figure, recover the amount you are owed from the following month’s/quarter’s payment and let us know that no payment is due.

If it is not possible to recover the amount you are owed from the following month’s/quarter’s payment, write to your Accounts Office, explaining how you have worked out the amount owed and ask for it to be paid to you.

Quote your Accounts Office reference shown on the front of your P30BC Payslip Booklet or P30B letter.

Further information about payments and payslips

There are special rules about making payments during a trade dispute. For details see the CWG2, Employer Further Guide to PAYE and NICs, under ‘trade disputes’.

If you need to post a payment to the Accounts Office and do not have a payslip (for example, if the payment is for an earlier year), please send your cheque with a covering letter showing:

  • your address and telephone number
  • your Accounts Office reference, shown on the front of your P30BC, Payslip Booklet, or on the P30B letter
  • the period the payment is for
  • the amount of PAYE and NICs you are paying.

A reference checker is available which you will find useful if you are paying electronically through your bank’s internet or telephone banking service or by BACS Direct Credit. It will help ensure your payment is allocated correctly, particularly if your payment is for an earlier year.

Examples