PAYE payments

Are you making PAYE payments to HMRC?

If so, make sure you check your PAYE payment reference numbers are correct. Payments may not be recognised if they are not. This can lead to HMRC issuing penalties and charges even if you have paid on time, which you’ll need to call them about to correct.

A payment reference number is specific to the type of tax and the accounting period the payment is for. The characters in the payment reference number tells HMRC where to correctly allocate payments as quickly as possible.

Online banking services may also default to a previous payment reference, so please make sure you check this is right, every time you pay.

You can use the ‘Pay now’ tool on GOV.UK to find the correct reference number to use each time.

Making PAYE payments – where to find your reference

If you’re paying on time for the current period, you’ll need to use the correct 13-character Accounts Office reference. You can find this on:

the letter HMRC sent when you first registered as an employer
the front of your payment booklet
the letter from HMRC that replaced the booklet
your Business Tax Account, if you’ve already added Employer PAYE enrolment to it – you can search ‘Business Tax Account’ on GOV.UK to sign in

If you’re not paying for the current period, you need to add 4 extra characters to the end of your Accounts Office reference. These final 4 characters will show the year and the month or quarter your payment is for. You’ll need to enter all 17 characters without any spaces.

Characters 14 and 15 are for the tax year. For example, 22 for the tax year from 6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022, or 23 for the tax year from 6 April 2022 to 5 April 2023.
Characters 16 and 17 are for the tax month or quarter depending on how you pay – examples of these can be found below.

Each tax period has a different payment reference number, so it’s important to make separate payments for each period.

You can find further help and support with making a PAYE payment on GOV.UK.

If you make monthly payments

If the payment you are making is not for the current period, examples of characters you’ll need to include in the payment reference can be found below. You can use the ‘Pay now’ tool on GOV.UK to find out which characters to use.

For the periods:

6 April to 5 May, use ’01’
6 May to 5 June, use ’02’
6 June to 5 July, use ’03’
6 July to 5 August, use ’04’

For example, to pay for the month ending 5 June 2022 (month 2 of the 2022 to 23 tax year), add the 4 extra characters 2302 to the end of your Accounts Office reference – 23 to tell HMRC it’s for the tax year ending 5 April 2023 and 02 to tell them it’s for month 2.

If you make quarterly payments

If you are making a quarterly payment, you’ll need to include the characters relating to the relevant quarter below in your payment reference.

For the periods:

6 April to 5 July, use ’03’
6 July to 5 October, use ’06’
6 October to 5 January, use ’09’
6 January to 5 April, use ’12’

For example, to pay for the quarter ending 5 October 2021, add the 4 extra characters 2206 to the end of your Accounts Office reference – 22 to tell HMRC it’s for the tax year ending 5 April 2022 and 06 to tell them which quarter this relates to.

If you make yearly payments

If you make yearly payments, you’ll need to add 4 characters that identify the tax year and tax month in which you paid your employees.

For example, if you paid your employees on 8 April 2022, add the 4 extra characters 2301 to the end of your Accounts Office reference – 23 to tell HMRC it’s for the tax year ending 5 April 2023 and 01 to tell them it’s for month 1.