The Self Assessment tax return deadline is approaching and for many early tax return filers a tax bill now has to be paid.
Paying your tax bill before the 31 January deadline is important so you avoid late payment penalties and late payment interest.
To pay your tax bill online you can now use the fairly new HMRC app which lets you pay HMRC directly.
Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said:
“We’re seeing more and more people embrace the convenience and flexibility the HMRC app offers. Self Assessment customers can pay the tax owed through the HMRC app, which is a secure and convenient tool that can be used at a time and place to suit them.”
HMRC reported that over 6,700 self assessment tax payers handed over nearly £6 million in tax via the HMRC app in October 2022. This is a substantial increase from February 2022 when £1.8 million was paid in tax using the app.
Pay your Self Assessment tax bill through the HMRC app
The HMRC app is an easy to use option to make a payment to HMRC in a secure way. HMRC are trying to make dealing with tax online easier and the app achieves this goal along with other services like the digital assistant.
HMRC’s app is available to download for free just like any other app on your mobile phone and it gives you access to a range of helpful reference numbers (like your UTR number) and figures.
You can still pay HMRC in all of the old ways if the app isn’t an option for you at the minute.
HMRC time to pay
If you are struggling to pay your income tax bill by the deadline you can contact HMRC to ask for support through the time to pay scheme.
Time to pay is designed to spread the income tax you owe over an agreed period of time instead of in one lump sum.
It’s best to contact HMRC as soon as you can to discuss using time to pay so they can offer any help available before SA late penalties and late payment interest are accrued.
