The deadline for making your payment on account is approaching rapidly, being 31st July. It’s important that any amount due is paid by the deadline to avoid penalties and interest charges.

We’ve heard today from a client who called HMRC to discuss their payment on account. They were confused when HMRC’s system showed that the amount they thought was due to be paid was actually due to be refunded to the taxpayer.

This was NOT the case, and the amount was due in full.

It seems HMRC have a new computer system, which appears to be inaccurate!

If you have need to speak to HMRC about how to pay any tax due, please do not be misled by the inaccuracies of their newly installed and inaccurate system. If we’ve told you that an amount is due to be paid, please make sure that you do, or get in touch with us.

In theory it would be possible to argue against any penalties and interest that would arise if a payment on account was not made, given the inaccurate information that would have come from HMRC, but the battle is one that we’d prefer our clients to avoid!

As we outlined earlier, any payment on account that you make may well come straight back to you, due to HMRC not having raised demands for the payment on account. This should though only affect a small number of tax payers.

If you’re unsure how to pay your tax, you can check how to make your payment on account here.

As ever, if you have any questions around your payment on account or any other aspect of your business or personal affairs, please do get in touch.