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Tax to pay on 31 July? Not received a statement? Don’t worry. If your statement only arrives in August, HMRC won’t charge interest provided you pay within 30 days.

HMRC’s announcement

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have confirmed that there are some delays in sending out this year’s Self Assessment (SA) statements showing tax payments due on 31 July 2011. Whilst they hope that most will be sent out by the end of the month, some will arrive later.

HMRC’s full statement about the delays can be found on their website.

Whilst welcoming HMRC’s sensible approach not to charge interest where statements are delayed until August, the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group adds a note of caution: keep a note of when your statement is received in case you need to complain later about an interest charge.

31 July SA payments on account

Technically, whether or not HMRC send you a statement, you are still due to pay your second payment on account for 2010/11 by 31 July. And, if you can, you should make every effort to do so. 

But because of their system error, HMRC have adopted a sensible approach and agreed not to charge interest in certain circumstances. They have said:

“Normally these [SA statements] are all issued in July, but this year some will be issued later. The majority will be sent on time.

No one needs to worry about this, HMRC will send out statements to remaining customers soon.

If HMRC have asked you to make a second payment on account in July, you normally have to pay this by 31 July. You usually have to pay interest if you don't pay on time. If you receive your statement in August, you should still pay the tax due as soon as you can. You'll only be asked to pay interest on the tax due on the second payment on account if you still haven't paid it more than 30 days after you receive your statement.

Online customers will still be able to check their statement online and pay online too.
HMRC are sorry if anyone experiences any inconvenience.”

If your statement is late, keep a note of when you receive it in case HMRC do try to charge you interest.

And SA statements received in late July?

LITRG hope that HMRC will adopt a similarly sensible approach to interest charges where taxpayers only receive their statement this week and their payment is then late. For example, if you receive your statement on Saturday 30 July and post a cheque to pay it, it is likely that your payment will reach HMRC a few days late.

If this applies to you, again LITRG suggest you keep a note of when you receive your statement and proof of posting your cheque and, if need be, complain to HMRC about any interest charged, referring them to their statement quoted above.