Changes to HMRC payments

From 13th January 2018 HMRC will no longer accept payment of taxes by personal credit card and prior to that, from 15th December 2017, payments will not be able to be made through the Post Office.

Payments can be made to HMRC by:

• Online or telephone banking (Faster Payments, Bacs and CHAPS)
• Direct Debit
• Debit Card - online or by telephone
• Business Credit Card - online or by telephone

HMRC have made these changes to save business owners the time and expense of going to a post office or bank and because these payment methods are more secure.

VAT payment

Direct Debit is an ideal payment method for paying VAT as it can be set up through your VAT online account and you will no longer have to remember to set up the payment.  Submission of your VAT return and payment must be done by the 7th (1 month and 7 days after your VAT period end) but if you choose to pay by direct debit HMRC will take payment a few days after this between the 10th and 12th of the month.  When you submit your tax return the acknowledgement will tell you what date the payment will leave your bank account. If you don't submit a VAT return HMRC will not take a direct debit but will obviously send you a reminder and a penalty notice.

PAYE payment

PAYE can be paid by direct debit but you would have to set this up each month.  We recommend setting up a forward payment for PAYE through internet banking when you make the payments to your staff choosing a date on or before the 22nd of the month the PAYE is due.

Self Assessment Payment

Self Assessment payments can be made by direct debit but again these would have to be set up each time a payment is due.  A payment by internet banking is therefore recommend prior to 31 January and 31 July each year and again these can be set up in advance so you don't miss the deadline and receive a penalty or interest charge. For those who prefer to pay a regular monthly amount towards self-assessment tax a budget plan can be set up with HMRC to pay tax monthly in advance. You can find more details about the HMRC budget plan here.