Tax bill payment terms and dates question

Reds-on-Sea

Hi all,

I have a hopefully simple question about tax bill payment dates

Tiny bit of context: I have always worked PAYE, but quit my last job in mid August to move across the country. I have a property which I rent out, and pay a separate self-assessment tax bill on it. The bill for 2017-18 came in at around £1300 and is due (as I understand) by 31st Jan 2019.
I've always been good and had savings (I'd never spent a penny of my income from the property except the tax bill!), UNTIL I moved house recently.
We didn't extend our mortgage, and I ended up spending ALL my savings on the house (as it was a bit more expensive that anticipated by the end). I haven't been able to secure another job yet, and therefore may not be able to comfortably pay my tax bill by Jan 31st.

So my question is: Can I get an extension, or get it added to my PAYE when I do eventually get a job (I think I'm close now)? I know very well, I should have kept back enough, but my house move was a nightmare and I didn't get my bill until the day before completion, by which point I had no option but to pay.

Who can I speak to about this, if anyone? Or do I just have to suck it up and go into debt to pay it?

Thanks in advance.

Dazed_and_confused

From the information provided I think it extremely unlikely that you could have this tax collected through an adjustment to your 2019:20 tax code.

But you should be able to make some form of arrangement to pay it over an extended period.

You are better off doing this formally with HMRC because if you don't you could be charged a late payment penalty (used to be 5% of tax due which remains unpaid at end of February but this may have changed).

You will though have to pay interest at around 3-4%/annum. Current rate is somewhere on gov.uk.

So on £1,300 you are looking at smallish amounts, less than £50/year if you paid nothing at all.

You can contact HMRC to set up an arrangement. And definitely should do this to make sure you avoid the 5% penalty.

Reds-on-Sea

Thank you Dazed. I figured this must be the case, however despite scouring my tax return and the GOV website, I can't for the life of me figure out how to contact them. I do want to pay my bill – just not in one big lump by the end of jan!

Do you know how I contact 'them'?

greatkingrat

Have you considered applying for a credit card with an introductory 0% offer? You couldn't use it to pay the tax directly, but if you use it for normal day to day expenses, you could free up money to pay the tax bill.

Dazed_and_confused

Google is your friend
https://www.gov.uk/difficulties-paying-hmrc

Dazed_and_confused

Further googling has found this,

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/pay-what-you-owe-in-instalments

Seems you can try and do it online now without needing to phone HMRC anymore