HMRC personal tax account

If you’re self-employed, you might already use your HMRC personal tax account to file a Self Assessment return. But all UK workers can benefit from logging into their accounts from time to time, whether it’s to verify details or find financial information. Here’s what you need to know about your HMRC personal tax account.

What is an HMRC personal tax account?

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is the UK’s tax authority, responsible for administering benefits, collecting taxes, and enforcing tax and custom-related laws. It was formed in 2005 when the Board of Customs and Excise merged with Inland Revenue. More recently, the authority has pushed to make taxation more efficient by streamlining account information online as part of the Making Tax Digital initiative.

HMRC personal tax accounts were launched in 2015, making it easier for individuals to file, review, and manage taxes online. The purpose of this type of account is to easily view HMRC tax credits and benefits as well as other filing information, all in one central portal.

What can you do with a personal tax account?

According to the HMRC website, here is a list of what you can do with your personal account.

• Inform HMRC about changes of name and address

• Fill in, view, and submit a personal tax return

• Verify your tax code and income tax estimate

• Find your national insurance number

• Claim HMRC tax refunds

• Check and manage HMRC tax credits

• Track any tax forms that you’ve submitted

• Check your state pension

• Check allowances, including marriage allowance

In short, the personal tax account gives you swift access to all your main details in a central online dashboard. You can view information from past years as well as the current filing year. For example, you can check how much income you’ve received over the past five tax years, along with the income tax you paid each year. Individuals might need this information for mortgage or loan applications, so it’s helpful to have an authoritative source.

However, you can’t use your personal account for everything. For example, you must report and pay capital gains tax through a different account.

HMRC tax return for the self-employed

Employees paid using pay as you earn (PAYE) can sign into their personal tax accounts to check and amend tax codes, view income tax estimates, and claim HMRC tax refunds for any overpaid PAYE amounts.

Self-employed individuals will use their HMRC personal tax account to complete and submit tax returns. It’s easy to follow the step-by-step Self Assessment process to report income and expenses. After filing your Self Assessment return, you can then view and print the SA302 tax calculation summaries. You’ll also be able to:

• Check your unique taxpayer reference (UTR) number

• Claim tax repayments

• Make claims to reduce payments on account

• Notify HMRC of changes to self-employment

• Read secure messages

How to set up a personal tax account

No matter your employment status, setting up a personal account is easy. If you’re already registered with HMRC as self-employed, you should have a Government Gateway user ID. You can use this to verify your identity, along with your national insurance number. It’s important to register for your Government Gateway ID as soon as possible if you haven’t done so. Self-employed individuals must register no later than the 5 October of their second trading year.

If you’ve never filed an HMRC tax return online, you’ll need to use the Gov.uk Verify service instead. HMRC will direct you to identifying questions and will request financial information along with personal documents. Qualifying documents include:

• Bank statements

• Passport

• Driving license

• P60 form

It’s well worth setting up an HMRC tax account to check up on your pension, marriage allowance, benefits, and national insurance details all from a convenient central location. Simply visit the HMRC website to get started.

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