Guides

Payments on account: what they are and when they're due

Checked against GOV.UK on 15 October 2026

General guidance taken from GOV.UK, not advice about your own tax affairs. HMRC's rules change, so the GOV.UK pages listed at the end are the final word.

Payments on account are advance payments towards your next tax bill, including Class 4 National Insurance if you're self-employed. They spread the cost over 2 instalments, each normally half of the tax you owed last year, due by midnight on 31 January and 31 July.

Who has to make them

You must make both payments unless:

  • the tax you owed last year was less than £1,000, or
  • last year you paid more than 80% of the tax you owed outside Self Assessment — for example through your tax code, or because your bank had already taken tax off your savings interest

Your Self Assessment statement or your HMRC online account shows how much they are, if you need to pay them.

How they're worked out

They're based on your estimated earnings — usually what you earned the year before — so each payment is usually half of last year's tax.

  • If you earn more than that, you'll still owe tax on top: a balancing payment.
  • If you earn less, you may be able to claim a refund.

The balancing payment

The balancing payment is your total tax for the year minus the payments on account you've already made. It's due by midnight on 31 January after the end of the tax year, and it also includes anything you owe for capital gains or student loans (if you're self-employed).

What 31 January looks like

If you made payments on account last year, on 31 January you pay your balancing payment for the year just ended and the first payment on account for the next one. GOV.UK's example:

  • Your bill for 2023 to 2024 is £3,000. You had already made 2 payments on account of £900 each (£1,800).
  • By 31 January 2025 you pay £2,700: the £1,200 balancing payment (£3,000 minus £1,800) plus a first payment on account of £1,500 (half of £3,000) towards 2024 to 2025.
  • By 31 July 2025 you pay the second payment on account, £1,500.

If you didn't make payments on account last year — for example, it's your first time filing Self Assessment — you pay the full bill plus the first payment on account. That makes the first 31 January the biggest:

  • Your bill for 2023 to 2024 is £3,000.
  • By 31 January 2025 you pay £4,500: the £3,000 bill plus a first payment on account of £1,500.
  • By 31 July 2025 you pay £1,500.

To work out your own figures from last year's bill, use the payments on account calculator. It also checks the £1,000 and 80% rules.

Check what you've paid and what's due

Sign in to your HMRC online account, choose to view your latest Self Assessment return, then select View statements. You'll see the payments on account you've made and the ones still to make. If you filed on paper, your last Self Assessment statement shows them.

Reduce them if your tax will be lower

If you know this year's tax will be lower than last year's, you can ask HMRC to reduce your payments on account, telling them the amount you expect to make:

  • Online: sign in, view your latest Self Assessment return, and select Reduce payments on account.
  • By post: send form SA303 to your tax office.

Be careful not to go too low. If you reduce them and your bill turns out higher, HMRC charges interest on the difference.

Sources