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PAYE payment references and why they matter

HMRC have recently reminded employers to make sure that their PAYE payments are allocated to the correct liability that they intend to pay, especially when making an early or late payment.

Regular, on time payments must include the 13-character accounts office reference number as the payment reference. The accounts office reference number can be found:

  • in your HMRC online account;
  • on the letter HMRC sent you when you registered as an employer (or sent to your accountant or tax adviser if they registered on your behalf); and
  • in the front of your payment booklet (if you have one).

If you make an early or late payment, you will also need to add four extra numbers to the end of your 13-character accounts office reference number. The four digits will depend on whether your payment is monthly, quarterly or annually.

Quarterly payments

If you pay quarterly, the four digits which you need to add are:

  • the last two numbers of the tax year your payment is for, and
  • the number of the final month in the quarter you are paying for, counting the months from the start of the tax year.

For example, if you are making an early or late payment for the quarter covering 6 April 2023 to 5 July 2023, the four numbers you need to add to the end of your accounts office reference number are 2403. This is worked out as:

  • 24 - the tax year you are paying for ends in 2024, of which you take the last two digits
  • 03 - the quarter you are paying for (6 April 2023 to 5 July 2023) ends in July, which is the third month of the 2023 to 2024 tax year, so your final two digits are 03

Monthly payments

If you pay monthly, the four digits which you need to add are:

  • the last two numbers of the tax year your payment is for, and
  • the number of the month in the tax year your payment is for.

For example, if you are making an early or late payment for the month of 6 May 2023 to 5 June 2023, the four numbers you need to add to the end of your accounts office reference number are 2402. This is worked out as follows:

  • 24 - the tax year you are paying for ends in 2024, and you take the last two digits
  • 02 - the month you are paying for (6 May 2023 to 5 June 2023), June is the second month of the 2023 to 2024 tax year so this becomes 02.

Annual Payments

If you pay annually, the four numbers you need to add to the end of your 13-character accounts office reference number are:

  • the last two numbers of the tax year your payment is for
  • the month of the tax year in which you paid your employees

For example, if you are making a payment in March 2024 for the tax year 6 April 2023 to 5 April 2024, the four numbers you need to add to the end of your accounts office reference number are 2412. This is worked out as follows:

  • 24 - the tax year you are paying for ends in 2024, so your first two extra digits are 24
  • 12 - the payment is made in the twelfth month of the tax year, so your final two digits are 12

The good news is that if you pay through the online tax service, it will work out the numbers for you!

 

This article reflects the position at the date of publication (15 August 2023). If you are reading this at a later date you are advised to check that that position has not changed in the time since.   

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