Get to Know your Personal Tax Account

Take Control of your Taxes

Taxpayers should not assume that your code and your tax are automatically correct. It has been reported that HMRC is holding on to £billions in taxes that are overpaid by people who don't know or understand how to calculate their own taxes.

 The solution is to use your Personal Tax Account to take control of your taxes, because HMRC isn't there to do it, it is now just a collector, the rest is up to you, if you don't engage a tax advisor.

It's good news is that HMRC has given every individual taxpayer a powerful free tool to keep an eye on their tax – the Personal Tax Account, but that means it has wiped it's hands of making sure your taxes are correct...the message is, it is up to you..... 

Through your Personal Tax Account, you can: 

• Check your current Income Tax estimate and tax code. 

• Amend your tax code to refund overpaid tax in the current tax year

• See how much tax you've paid and your income from work for the last 5 years. 

• Claim a tax refund if you think you've overpaid. 

• View and manage your Self Assessment (if you're registered). 

• Check your State Pension forecast and National Insurance history. 

You access it by signing in using your Government Gateway details, or by creating them if you've never had them before. When you sign in, HMRC may ask you to prove your identity using photo ID such as a passport or driving licence – this is to keep your data secure,  and here is the crucial mindset shift: your Government Gateway ID is as important as your online banking login. It should be: 

1. Written down somewhere safe, or stored securely in a password manager. 
2. Kept up to date (email and mobile number particularly). 
3. Used regularly enough that you stay familiar with the system. 

Summary

If you only log in once a year and forget your ID, the hassle of recovering access can put you off checking what's going on. That is exactly how overpayments and underpayments are allowed to carry on in the background for years. So I've been recommending for a long time that every UK taxpayer should;

• Set up their Personal Tax Account (if they haven't already). 
• 
  
• Log in at least a couple of times a year – for example, after the tax year ends in April, and again in the autumn. 
• 
  
• Check that their tax code, income figures and benefits in kind look sensible. 
• 
  
• Use the refund process or contact HMRC if something doesn't look right. 

Download a Step by Step Guide here