Paying employers’ PAYE

To make sure a payment is allocated to the correct month or liability you intended to pay, remember to include your 13-character accounts office reference number as the payment reference.

You can find this:

· 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)

· in the front of your payment booklet if you have one

Each time you make an early or late payment you also need to add 4 extra numbers to the end of your 13-character accounts office reference number. If you pay monthly, the 4 digits which you need to add to the end of your 13-character reference number are:

· the last 2 numbers of the tax year your payment is for

· the number of the month or quarter of the tax year your payment is for

For example, if you are making a payment for the month of 6 May 2023 to 5 June 2023, the 4 numbers you need to add to the end of your accounts office reference number are 2402. This is worked out as follows:

· the tax year you are paying for ends in 2024 = 24

· the month you are paying for (6 May 2023 to 5 June 2023) is the second month of the 2023 to 2024 tax year = 02

If you are making a payment for the quarter covering 6 April 2023 to 5 July 2023, the 4 numbers you need to add to the end of your accounts office reference number are 2403. This is worked out as follows:

· the tax year you are paying for ends in 2024 = 24

· the quarter you are paying for (6 April 2023 to 5 July 2023) ends on the third month of the 2023 to 2024 tax year = 03

If you pay annually, the 4 numbers you need to add to the end of your 13-character accounts office reference number are:

· the last 2 numbers of the tax year your payment is for

· the month of the tax year you paid your employees

If you pay through the online tax service, it will work out the numbers for you.