Changes to paying tax: at the Post Office and by personal credit card

From 15 December 2017 taxpayers will no longer be able to make payments to HMRC at the Post Office, and from 13 January 2018 HMRC will no longer be accepting payments made from personal credit cards. In the run-up to the 2016/17 self-assessment payment deadline of 31 January 2018, members with clients who typically use these methods to pay their tax bills should alert them to this change as soon as possible and discuss alternative payment methods with them.

Paying at the Post Office

The Transcash service at the Post Office is being withdrawn from 15 December 2017 and, as a result, HMRC payslips will no longer be accepted at the Post Office and Post Office counter staff will no longer take payments for HMRC.

HMRC are encouraging more taxpayers to make payments of tax electronically (by direct debit, online and telephone banking (Faster Payments, BACs and CHAPs)) or by debit card (either online or by telephone), and have provided guidance to their staff to help taxpayers who contact HMRC if they need assistance to choose an alternative payment method.

This topic was the subject of a HMRC Talking Points webinar on 17 October 2017. The webinar (and other Talking Points webinars) are available to view on the GOV.UK website.

Paying by personal credit card

From 13 January 2018 HMRC will no longer be accepting payments made from personal credit cards. This is because the EU Payment Services Directive 2, which comes into effect on this date, prohibits merchants (including HMRC) from recharging associated fees back to customers. Corporate, business and commercial credit cards are not affected by this change and HMRC will continue to accept personal and commercial debit cards.

Further details on alternative payment methods can be found at Dealing with HMRC: Paying HMRC. See also Agent Update 62 (p 10).