In this section:
This guide provides an overview of the deadlines for paying:
It also tells you about late payment interest charges made by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and how to avoid these by initiating your payments in time.
We recommend that you make all of your in-year and annual PAYE, NICs and PSA payments electronically. HMRC counts all of the payment methods below as electronic apart from payment by post.
Paying electronically is fast, secure and convenient provided you give us an accurate reference number.
It is mandatory for employers with 250 or more employees to make their payments electronically, however we recommend that all employers pay this way.
For electronic payment your cleared payment must reach HMRC's bank account no later than the 22nd of the month following the end of the tax month or quarter to which it relates. Where the 22nd falls on a weekend or bank holiday, you must ensure that your payment arrives no later than the last bank working day before the 22nd, unless you make payment using the Faster Payment Service. For these payments we suggest you confirm the position with your bank. Bank working days are Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays.
If you are not required to pay electronically and choose to make a postal payment, you must ensure your cheque reaches HMRC no later than the 19th of the month following the end of the tax month or quarter to which it relates.
On this page:
You should make sure you initiate your electronic payment early enough for cleared funds to reach HMRC by the deadlines shown in the table below. It is important that you check with your bank/building society well in advance of making a payment to check single transaction, daily value limits and cut off times for processing payments to avoid your payment to HMRC being delayed.
It is your responsibility to ensure that payments are made on time, whichever payment method you use.
From 16 December 2011 HMRC will be able to accept payments made using the Faster Payment Service (FPS).
FPS is a service that has been introduced by the banking industry that allows payments by internet or telephone banking to be received on the same or next day, provided the value of the payment does not exceed the limit set by your own bank or building society.
FPS does not operate on 25 December and 1 January.
Before making a payment using FPS you should contact your bank or building society to confirm the services available to you, any daily value limits and the latest cut off times for sending a payment.
More about the Faster Payment Service
If paying by post, your cheque payment must be posted early enough to reach HMRC no later than the 19th of the month following the end of the tax month or quarter to which it relates, so please allow at least three working days. Obviously postal delays are out of your and HMRC's hands which is why HMRC recommends the security and certainty of electronic payments. Remember, you may be charged a penalty if your payment is not received by HMRC by the deadline.
| Month or quarter ended | Month or Quarter number | HMRC has to receive cleared electronic funds by * | HMRC has to receive cheques by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 May | M01 | 20 May | 19 May |
| 5 Jun | M02 | 22 Jun | 19 Jun |
| 5 Jul | M03 / Q1 | 22 Jul | 19 Jul |
| 5 Aug | M04 | 22 Aug | 19 Aug |
| 5 Sep | M05 | 22 Sep | 19 Sep |
| 5 Oct | M06 / Q2 | 21 Oct | 19 Oct |
| 5 Nov | M07 | 22 Nov | 19 Nov |
| 5 Dec | M08 | 22 Dec | 19 Dec |
| 5 Jan | M09 / Q3 | 22 Jan | 19 Jan |
| 5 Feb | M10 | 22 Feb | 19 Feb |
| 5 Mar | M11 | 22 Mar | 19 Mar |
| 5 Apr | M12 / Q4 | 22 Apr | 19 Apr |
* If the due date falls on a weekend or bank holiday, then your payment must reach HMRC by the previous bank working day (Monday to Friday), unless you make payment using the Faster Payment Service. If your payment arrives late you may be liable for a late payment penalty.
To create a calendar of key tax deadlines and to sign up to receive regular email alerts, visit the Business Link website.
Create a calendar of key tax deadlines on the Business Link website (Opens new window)
| Payment method | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Electronic (Direct Debit, Bacs Direct Credit, internet or telephone banking, Faster Payments, debit or credit card over the internet using BillPay, CHAPS, GBS Transfer, Bank Giro, Post Office) |
22 July Cleared payment must reach our account no later than this date |
| By post | 19 July Cheque must reach our Accounts Office no later than this date |
Payment method |
Deadline |
|---|---|
Electronic |
22 October |
By post |
19 October |
The tables below provide guidance to help you decide when to initiate your PAYE/NICs/Class 1A NIC/PSA payments in order to avoid missing the deadlines. However please note:
22nd falls on a |
We must have cleared funds by |
Last day for setting up a new Direct Debit Instruction (DDI) and payment |
Last day for setting up a Direct Debit payment if using an existing DDI |
|---|---|---|---|
Monday |
Monday 22nd |
Monday 15th |
Wednesday 17th |
Tuesday |
Tuesday 22nd |
Tuesday 15th |
Thursday 17th |
Wednesday |
Wednesday 22nd |
Wednesday 15th |
Friday 17th |
Thursday |
Thursday 22nd |
Thursday 15th |
Monday 19th |
Friday |
Friday 22nd |
Sunday 17th |
Tuesday 19th |
Saturday |
Friday 21st |
Sunday 16th |
Tuesday 18th |
Sunday |
Friday 20th |
Sunday 15th |
Tuesday 17th |
22nd falls on a |
We must have cleared funds by |
Last day for initiating payment by |
|---|---|---|
Monday |
Monday 22nd |
Monday 22nd |
Tuesday |
Tuesday 22nd |
Tuesday 22nd |
Wednesday |
Wednesday 22nd |
Wednesday 22nd |
Thursday |
Thursday 22nd |
Thursday 22nd |
| Friday | Friday 22nd | Friday 22nd |
| Saturday | Friday 22nd | Friday 22nd |
| Sunday | Friday 22nd | Friday 22nd |
FPS is a service that has been introduced by the banking industry that allows payments by internet or telephone banking to be received on the same day, provided the value of the payment does not exceed the limit set by your own bank or building society.
FPS does not operate on 25 December or 1 January.
Before making a payment using FPS you should contact your bank or building society to confirm the services available to you any daily value limits and latest cut off times for sending a payment.
Information about Faster Payments limits (Opens new window)
22nd falls on a |
We must have cleared funds by |
Last day for initiating payment by |
|---|---|---|
Monday |
Monday 22nd |
Thursday 18th |
Tuesday |
Tuesday 22nd |
Friday 18th |
Wednesday |
Wednesday 22nd |
Monday 20th |
Thursday |
Thursday 22nd |
Tuesday 20th |
Friday |
Friday 22nd |
Wednesday 20th |
Saturday |
Friday 21st |
Wednesday 19th |
Sunday |
Friday 20th |
Wednesday 18th |
22nd falls on a |
We must have cleared funds by |
Last day for initiating payment by |
|---|---|---|
Monday |
Monday 22nd |
Monday 22nd |
Tuesday |
Tuesday 22nd |
Tuesday 22nd |
Wednesday |
Wednesday 22nd |
Wednesday 22nd |
Thursday |
Thursday 22nd |
Thursday 22nd |
Friday |
Friday 22nd |
Friday 22nd |
Saturday |
Friday 21st |
Friday 21st |
Sunday |
Friday 20th |
Friday 20th |
If paying by post, your cheque payment must be posted early enough to reach HMRC no later than the 19th of the month. To allow for possible postal delays, for which we are not responsible, please allow at least three working days for the payment to reach us.
For interest purposes we will treat your payment as being received on the day we receive your cheque. Where we receive it on a day that the office is closed the date used will be the day the office was first closed.
For example, when we receive a cheque on a Monday we will treat it as having been received on the Saturday before.
We charge daily interest on late payments of PAYE/NICs by taking the number of days by which a payment is late and applying the relevant HMRC late payment interest rate. We make the charge after the end of the tax year once we have all the end of year returns and know what was due for each period.
Check current and historic HMRC interest rates on late payments
We charge penalties on PAYE payments paid late; PAYE includes income tax/NICs and construction industry scheme and student loan deductions. This means you may have to pay a late payment penalty if you do not pay the PAYE due each month, quarter or annually, on time and in full. There will also be late payment penalties for not paying other amounts due annually - including Class 1A NICs and PSA amounts - on time and in full.
The late payment penalties will apply to all employers, not just the large ones. This replaces the Mandatory Electronic Payment surcharge, which applied only to large employers.
Find out more about late payment penalties
Problems paying HMRC: advice for businesses, individuals and tax agents
Follow the link below to the Business Link website where you can create a calendar of your key tax deadlines for the next 12 months. You can also sign up to receive regular email alerts as each date approaches.
Create a calendar of PAYE deadlines on the Business Link website
We strongly recommend that you use an electronic payment method such as:
You can find out more about these and other payment methods by reading the guidance below.
How to pay PAYE / Class 1 National Insurance
How to pay Class 1A National Insurance
How to pay PAYE Settlement Agreement payments
You must let HMRC know if you have no PAYE/NICs payment to make for a tax month or quarter. The best way to do this is by completing the online form - which you can use for a previous, current or future month/quarter where no payment is due.
To use this service you'll need to enter the Accounts Office reference - made up of 13 characters, for example: 123PA00045678 - from the front of your payment booklet or the letter HMRC issued in place of a booklet.
Notify HMRC online that no PAYE/NIC payment is due
Other ways you can let HMRC know are by:
HMRC can arrange quarterly or even annual payment options, depending on your circumstances.
Smaller employers with estimated monthly payments to make of less than £1500 can ask HMRC to pay quarterly.
Or, if all payments on which tax and NICs are due are paid to your employees annually in a single tax month, you can ask HMRC to be treated as an 'annual payer'. This will mean that you are not contacted unnecessarily before the payment becomes due and that you don't need to report NIL payments for the months in which you are not paying your employees. You must use the same month every year, so if this changes or you start paying your employees more frequently, you will need to tell HMRC.
If you think either of these payment options might apply to your circumstances, contact HMRC's Payment Enquiry Helpline on 0845 366 7816 and have your Accounts Office reference number to hand.
Follow the links at the end of this section to find out what to do if you think you'll have a problem meeting a payment deadline, or to ask a question about end of year PAYE. You'll normally receive a response to an email query within two working days.
Guidance on what to do if you have a problem making a PAYE payment
End-of-year PAYE queries - send an email
As an employer you are required to keep PAYE records, including records of the payments you have made to HMRC, for the current and previous three tax years. You should therefore be able to reconcile payments you've made using your own records.
If however you are having difficulty in doing that, you can contact HMRC's Payment Enquiry Helpline to confirm the amounts, allocation and dates of the last three payments made during the current tax year. You'll find a link to contact details for the helpline at the end of this section.
Find contact details for HMRC's Payment Enquiry Helpline
If you need to reconcile more than the last three payments, you will need to write to HMRC providing:
HMRC will check these details against their records and either confirm that they are correct or advise where any differences exist. You should write to:
HMRC
St Mungo's Road
Cumbernauld
Glasgow
G70 5TR
Alternatively, if you are classed by HMRC as a 'Large Business' and have already had contact with your assigned Customer Relationship Manager, you can approach them with any concerns over reconciling PAYE payments.
