How to pay your tax bill

If your tax return was submitted some months ago you would expect to have received a statement of account by now, which should include a payslip for the amount of tax payable on 31 January 2008. However this year HMRC say there has been a delay in sending out some of the Statements of Account. Other clients may have received an acknowledgment of their submitted return along with a blank payslip.

You can pay your tax bill by any of these methods:
· Send a cheque through the post to the HMRC accounts office;
· At a bank counter using bank giro;
· At a post office counter;
· Using a debit card over the internet; or
· A BACS payment through their own bank using telephone or internet banking

HMRC prefer taxpayers to use electronic methods of payment such as by debit card, or BACS as then they receive the money quicker. These methods also do not need a payslip, only the unique taxpayer reference number (UTR), and the bank account details of the relevant accounts office. These are available on the internet banking page of the HMRC website, see below.

If you are not happy with using an electronic payment method you will normally need to use a payslip. You can use any payslip HMRC have sent to you within the last 12 months, as long as it refers to your own personal tax affairs and not for any company or business you are involved in.

If you are new to the UK tax system ou ymay not have a payslip, in this case you need to send a cheque to the HMRC accounts office with a covering letter giving the following details:

name
address
telephone number
tax reference
type of tax paid eg. income tax
period or year it refers to eg. 2006/07
amount paid

Information on paying using telephone/internet banking
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/howtopay/int_tel_bank_sa.htm

Paying tax due by debit card over the internet:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/howtopay/debitcard_int.htm