Pay your Corporation Tax bill
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1. Overview
The deadline for your payment will depend on your taxable profits.
This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).
Taxable profits of up to £1.5 million
You must pay your Corporation Tax 9 months and 1 day after the end of your accounting period. Your accounting period is usually your financial year, but you may have 2 accounting periods in the year you set up your company.
Taxable profits of more than £1.5 million
You must pay your Corporation Tax in instalments.
Check the rules and deadlines:
- if your taxable profits are between £1.5 million and £20 million
- if your taxable profits are more than £20 million
Ways to pay
Make sure you pay HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by the deadline. They may charge you interest if you do not pay on time. They’ll pay you interest if you pay your tax early.
The time you need to allow depends on how you pay.
You cannot pay Corporation Tax by post.
Same day or next day
- approve a payment through your online bank account
- online or telephone banking by Faster Payments or CHAPS
- online by debit or corporate credit card
3 working days
- Direct Debit (if you’ve set up one for HMRC before)
- online or telephone banking by Bacs
- at your bank or building society
5 working days
- Direct Debit (if you have not set up one for HMRC before)
If the deadline falls on a weekend or bank holiday, make sure your payment reaches HMRC on the last working day before it (unless you’re paying by Faster Payments using online or telephone banking).
2. Direct Debit
Set up and make changes to a Direct Debit through your company’s HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) online account.
Use your 17-character Corporation Tax payment reference number for the accounting period you’re paying.
You’ll find your reference number:
- on your ‘notice to deliver your tax return’ or on any reminders from HMRC
- in your company’s HMRC online account - choose ‘view Corporation Tax statement’, ‘accounting periods’, then select the correct period
Your payment reference number changes with each accounting period, so you’ll need to use a different one each time you pay.
Your payment may be delayed if you use the wrong reference number.
How long it takes
Allow 5 working days to process a Direct Debit the first time you set one up.
It should take 3 working days each time you pay once you’ve already authorised a Direct Debit from HMRC.
Payments will appear on your bank statements as ‘HMRC NDDS’.
3. Approve a payment through your online bank account
You can pay your Corporation Tax bill directly using your online or mobile bank account.
When you’re ready to pay, start your Corporation Tax payment.
Select the ‘pay by bank account’ option. You’ll then be directed to sign in to your online or mobile banking account to approve a payment to ‘HMRC Shipley’.
Use your 17-character Corporation Tax payment reference number for the accounting period you’re paying.
You’ll find your reference number:
- on your ‘notice to deliver your tax return’ or on any reminders from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
- in your company’s HMRC online account - choose ‘view account’, ‘accounting period’, then select the correct period
Your payment reference number changes with each accounting period, so you’ll need to use a different one each time you pay.
The payment is usually instant but sometimes it takes up to 2 hours to show in your account.
You can select a date to pay, as long as it’s before your payment is due.
Check your account to make sure that the payment has gone out on the correct day. If the payment has not gone out as expected, speak to your bank.
You’ll need to have your online banking details ready to pay this way.
4. Make an online or telephone bank transfer
You can pay HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by Faster Payments, CHAPS or Bacs.
Your ‘notice to deliver your tax return’ or any reminder from HMRC, will tell you which account to pay into. If you’re not sure, use HMRC Cumbernauld.
- sort code: 08 32 10
- account number: 12001039
- account name - HMRC Cumbernauld
Or:
- sort code: 08 32 10
- account number: 12001020
- account name - HMRC Shipley
Reference number
Use your 17-character Corporation Tax payment reference number for the accounting period you’re paying.
Your payment reference number changes with each accounting period, so you’ll need to use a different one each time you pay.
If you’ve paid by bank transfer in the past and saved HMRC as a payee, your bank automatically saves the reference number you last used. You’ll need to update this with the correct reference number.
You’ll find your reference number:
- on your ‘notice to deliver your tax return’ or on any reminders from HMRC
- in your company’s HMRC online account - choose ‘view Corporation Tax statement’, ‘accounting periods’, then select the correct period
Your payment may be delayed if you use the wrong reference number.
How long it takes
Payments made by Faster Payments (online or telephone banking) will usually reach HMRC on the same or next day, including weekends and bank holidays.
CHAPS payments usually reach HMRC the same working day if you pay within your bank’s processing times.
Bacs payments usually take 3 working days.
Check your bank’s transaction limits and processing times before making a payment.
Overseas accounts
Use these details to pay from an overseas account.
-
account number (IBAN) - GB62 BARC 2011 4770 2976 90
-
Bank identifier code (BIC) - BARCGB22
-
account name - HMRC Cumbernauld
Or:
-
account number (IBAN) - GB03 BARC 2011 4783 9776 92
-
Bank identifier code (BIC) - BARCGB22
-
account name - HMRC Shipley
Some banks will charge you if you do not pay in pounds sterling.
Multiple payments by CHAPS
Send an online CHAPS enquiry form if you want to make a single payment to cover more than one company for the same accounting period.
HMRC’s banking address is:
Barclays Bank PLC
1 Churchill Place
London
United Kingdom
E14 5HP
5. By debit or corporate credit card online
You can pay online.
There’s a fee if you pay by corporate credit card or corporate debit card. The fee is not refundable.
There’s no fee if you pay by personal debit card.
You cannot pay with a personal credit card.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will accept your payment on the date you make it (even on bank holidays and weekends) - not the date it reaches HMRC’s account.
If you’re unable to pay your Corporation Tax bill in full by card, you should use another payment method.
Reference number
Use your 17-character Corporation Tax payment reference number for the accounting period you’re paying.
You’ll find your reference number:
- on your ‘notice to deliver your tax return’ or on any reminders from HMRC
- in your company’s HMRC online account - choose ‘view Corporation Tax statement’, ‘accounting periods’, then select the correct period
Your payment reference number changes with each accounting period, so you’ll need to use a different one each time you pay.
Your payment may be delayed if you use the wrong reference number.
6. At your bank or building society
You can only pay at your branch by cash or cheque if you have a paying-in slip from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Paying by cheque
Make your cheque payable to ‘HM Revenue and Customs only’.
Write your 17-character Corporation Tax payment reference number on the back of your cheque.
You’ll find your reference number:
- on your ‘notice to deliver your tax return’ or on any reminders from HMRC
- in your company’s HMRC online account - choose ‘view account’, ‘accounting period’, then select the correct period
Your payment reference number changes with each accounting period, so you’ll need to use a different one each time you pay.
Your payment may be delayed if you use the wrong reference number.
Allow 3 working days for your payment to reach HMRC’s bank account.
If you do not have a paying-in slip
You’ll need to pay by another method instead, for example:
7. Payments for a group of companies
If your company is in a group, you can pay Corporation Tax under a Group Payment Arrangement.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will send you your Corporation Tax payment reference number.
8. Tell HMRC no payment is due
Tell HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) if you have nothing to pay. HMRC will send you payment reminders if you do not.
You must tell HMRC by filling in the ‘nil to pay’ form.
You must still file your company tax return.
9. Check your payment has been received
Check your HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) online account to see if your payment has been received. It should be updated within a few days of HMRC receiving the payment.