Accountant let me down, can't make self assessment payment in one go

wanttomove

I work PAYE but have my own ltd co for the last few years, I've always met my payments on time but I have steadily wound my ltd down so this will be my last submission.

When I spoke to my accountant in December I explained I wanted my self assessment payment to come out of my PAYE from April as I'd struggle to pay it in one sum at the end of Jan. (I haven't worked for my ltd co since March '25), as I knew this would be under 3k I thought this should be fine.

Unfortunately my accountant didn't file my tax return by the end of December so HMRC won't allow me to do this now, my accountant told me he had been told by HMRC once he submitted my tax return, if he called them a few days later they might be able to sort it. This was at the beg of Jan, he has only emailed me literally yesterday to say he has spoken to HMRC and they won't do it and I have to pay it in one go by 31st Jan. He told me to ring them to do an arrangement to pay.

The amount is £825, the most I can afford this month is £500 leaving a balance outstanding of £325 that I won't be able to pay until I next get paid at the end of Feb. I have tried ringing them but I'm working every day up to and including the 31st and I can't get through to anyone.

How problematic will it be to have an outstanding amount of £325 til the end of Feb? I appreciate there will be interest added but I'm panicking about this now.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6652760/accountant-let-me-down-can-039-t-make-self-assessment-payment-in-one-go

No reason to panic.

£325 is, in the overall scheme of things, small beer so you may well have paid it before HMRC got too excited about it being unpaid.

Interest is not insignificant now (7.75%) so you can expect to have ~£2 added to the liability of you pay it in late February.

And paying it on February is crucial as you avoid the possibility of a late payment penalty.

No idea why your accountant thought having it included in your tax code was even a possibility once the 30 December deadline was missed.

MyRealNameToo

You should be able to use the online forms to declare you can't afford to pay it and it will set up a payment plan for you.

I messed up a couple of years ago and was able to do the Mrs online without an issue, for my own the sum was too big to go through the process but was easy enough to get them to agree to it over the phone.

wanttomove

Thank you, I'm not happy with him to be honest but not much I can do, this has happened because my corporation tax was a bigger sum than I had anticipated so wiped out the money I had set aside.

I next get paid on 26th Feb so as soon as I'm paid I'll pay the balance so its done.I looked at an arrangement to pay but in the grand scheme of things didn't see much point when I can pay the outstanding by 26th Feb

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81860105#Comment_81860105

It'll avoid the fine for non-payment and interest is less if its only for one month