Paying tax without a reference number
HMRC’s administration is suffering significant backlogs, including the issuing of new unique taxpayer reference (UTR) numbers. As the payment deadline for 2021 is fast approaching, how can a payment be made if the UTR hasn’t been issued?
The pandemic meant that many of HMRC’s staff were reallocated, which has had a knock-on effect on various departments. One area that has been affected is the processing of the SA1 form, meaning that many taxpayers are struggling to obtain a unique taxpayer reference (UTR) number, which is required to submit the tax return and to make the payment of tax. The UTR is used as the reference for the payment of the tax liability, and is used by HMRC to match the payment to the correct taxpayer.
However, it seems inevitable that some taxpayers will not receive their UTR by 31 January 2022. If that includes you, to avoid any problems you should generate a payslip online using your NI number instead of a UTR. You will then need to send this by post with a cheque payment. The cheque should also have the NI number on the reverse. This will allow HMRC to match the payment to the account and negate any possible late payment penalty.
Related Topics
-
Getting out of the child benefit tax trap
You expect to earn over £60,000 for this tax year which means you may have to pay back some or all of your family’s child benefit due to the high income child benefit charge (HICBC). Is it possible to reduce the charge?
-
HMRC targets “dodgy shops” in new compliance crackdown
The government has announced a new crackdown on businesses suspected of facilitating tax evasion, with HMRC increasing its focus on so-called "dodgy shops" used to enable tax fraud. What is HMRC targeting?
-
Mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind delayed
The government has revised plans to introduce the mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind from 6 April 2027, which will now be limited to company cars, vans, fuel and medical benefits. What's the full story?