Have you looked at your Personal Tax Account?

HMRC have been phasing in the use of online personal tax accounts for the past couple of years. These online accounts are available to all UK tax payers (both personal and business), and allow you to manage your tax affairs online.

With a secure registration process, it’s safe, personalised, and brings together all your tax information in one place, with facilities such as:

• your Income Tax estimate and tax code
• fill in, send and view a personal tax return
• claim a tax refund
• check your NICs history
• check and manage your tax credits
• check your State Pension and projected retirement income
• track tax forms that you’ve submitted online
• check or update your Marriage Allowance
• tell HMRC about a change of address
• check or update benefits you get from work, for example company car details and medical insurance
• Secure messages to make sure you don’t miss any deadlines.

A useful tool is to be able to assign ‘trusted helpers’, meaning you can help family or friends with their account, or you can appoint somebody to help with yours.

Businesses will also be able to view their tax transactions including Self-Assessment, Corporation Tax, VAT and PAYE for employers.

Going Digital

All of HMRC’s digital services are available through the Government website GOV.UK, however before you can use the majority of the services, you will need to register and verify your identity. There are currently two ways to do this – through either the Government Gateway or GOV.UK Verify.

We’re not going to lie, the registration process is not easy and if you’re anything like Nick, your language might get a little spicy as you navigate your way around.

But help is at hand… HMRC have published online Guides and FAQs to help you through, or you can try their telephone helpline 0300 200 3600 (but you will need to go through their security checks before they will discuss anything specific with you).

Don’t let this put you off – Once you’ve cracked the activation, subsequent logins are much more straightforward!

Activating your Account for the First Time

To sign in for the first time, you’ll need a Government Gateway Account. You should already have one if you’ve used HMRC online services before, or you can create one here.

You will also need to know your National Insurance Number.

You can also sign in with GOV.UK.Verify. This process takes around 15 minutes and you can select from a list of companies certified to verify your identity.

Together, this 2 step verification process provides a very secure connection to your personal information.

You can start the process here: https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

Moving with the Times

By 2020, the intention is that Personal Tax Accounts will allow taxpayers to ‘see their complete financial picture in their digital account, just like they do in their online banking’.

At Lambert Chapman, we are urging all of our clients to activate their accounts and check your personal details. This will become even more important as we move closer to digital accounts with the introduction of Making Tax Digital #MTD over the next few years.

If you need any assistance or if you have any questions, please get in touch with your usual Lambert Chapman contact, who will be happy to help.