Round up or down

Bobziz

Hopefully an easy one to answer - I recently submitted an estate return from which I calculated tax due at £13,266.60. I paid £13,266 thinking that I should round down. Looking at the account statement online, HMRC are saying tax due is £13,266.60. The tax is not actually due until the end of January next year. Question- will I be required to pay the 60p ? 

Thank you 

TheGreenFrog

If HMRC allowed taxpayers to round down their payments to the nearest £1 and then just wrote off the balance they would be foregoing a lot of money each year for no good reason.  Assuming 37 million taxpayers that is perhaps £18 million a year. 

molerat

Taxable amounts are truncated to whole pounds but the tax due is to the penny.

Bobziz

Thanks both, I think I had assumed that the round down income received rule also applied to tax due.  I'll pay the 60p then.

Green_hopeful

My husband submitted his dad’s tax and it was pence out. They sent a letter to say they were not going to pursue the pence but I thought the letter would have cost significantly more than the pence, even just in postage. 

TheGreenFrog

Green_hopeful said:

My husband submitted his dad’s tax and it was pence out. They sent a letter to say they were not going to pursue the pence but I thought the letter would have cost significantly more than the pence, even just in postage. 

Very true!  But probably automated and designed to say that the amount is still owed even if they will not chase for it.