Paid your payment on account? How to confirm HMRC received it, what to do if the self assessment payment is not showing, and what happens on 31 January.
You have paid your second payment on account, the 31 July deadline is behind you, and there is a small nagging question left: did it actually land, and is there anything else I am supposed to do now? This is the short answer to both, so you can close the tab and get on with your work.
The good news is that once the payment on account has left your account with the right reference, the hard part is done. What follows is confirming it arrived, keeping a record, and knowing what happens next so 31 January does not catch you out.
Log in to your HMRC online account and go to the Self Assessment section. There is a view of your payments and what you owe, and your payment will appear there once it has been received and allocated.
Two things worth knowing so you do not panic:
So if you paid by bank transfer on 30 July and your account still says nothing on 1 August, that is not a red flag yet. Give it a few working days before you assume anything has gone wrong.
If several working days have passed and your payment on account still is not showing, work through this in order.
Check the reference you used. The correct reference is your 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference followed by the letter K, with no spaces, like 1234567890K. A wrong reference, a missing K, or extra spaces is the single most common reason a payment lands at HMRC but is not matched to you. It is not lost, it is unallocated, and it can be traced.
Check the amount and the destination. Make sure the money actually left your account and went to HMRC’s Self Assessment bank details, not an old or incorrect account.
Contact HMRC to trace it. If the reference was correct and it still has not appeared after a reasonable number of working days, contact HMRC with your payment date, amount, and the confirmation you saved. They can find the payment and allocate it to your record. This is exactly why saving that confirmation matters.
If you have not already, save the confirmation of the payment: a screenshot of your banking app or the HMRC card receipt, showing the amount, the date, and the reference. Keep it with your tax records for the year.
It costs nothing and it is the fastest way to resolve any future query about whether, when, or how much you paid. A five second screenshot now can save an afternoon on the phone later, and it is far quicker than trying to dig the transaction out of an old bank statement months down the line.
Once the payment on account is in, your Self Assessment is quiet until the new year. Here is the shape of what is coming.
On 31 January you file your tax return for the year just gone, and HMRC works out your actual tax bill. Your two payments on account, the one from last January and the one you just made in July, are credited against that bill. From there, one of three things happens:
Knowing that January carries both a balancing payment and a new payment on account is the thing that stops the next deadline being a shock. If you can, start setting money aside for it now.
Say your tax bill last year was £4,000, so each payment on account is £2,000. You paid £2,000 in January and £2,000 in July, £4,000 in total towards this year.
If this year’s actual bill also comes out at £4,000, your payments on account clear it, and on 31 January you only need your first £2,000 payment on account for the following year. If this year’s bill is £5,000, you pay a £1,000 balancing payment plus the £2,000 payment on account, so £3,000 in January. If this year’s bill is only £3,000, you have overpaid by £1,000 and can have it back.
It is worth remembering what the July instalment does and does not include, because it explains part of your January bill in advance. A payment on account covers income tax and Class 4 National Insurance only. It does not include your student loan repayment, Class 2 National Insurance, or any Capital Gains Tax.
Those items are all settled in the balancing payment on 31 January, not in July. So if you have a student loan or a capital gain to declare, expect them to land on the January statement rather than the summer one. It is not an extra charge appearing from nowhere, it is simply the part of your bill that payments on account never touch.
While it is fresh, there is one small job worth doing. If your income this year is clearly heading lower than last year, you can ask HMRC to reduce next year’s payments on account so you are not overpaying twice more and waiting for it back. You do that in your Self Assessment account or on form SA303, and the guide on how to reduce a payment on account covers the trade-offs.
If your income is steady or rising, the more useful move is to start putting money aside now for January. Because that bill usually combines a balancing payment with the first instalment for the new year, it is the biggest single date in the freelancer calendar. A standing order into a separate savings pot, sized at roughly what you set aside for tax already, quietly removes the January scramble.
The rhythm of payments on account has not changed for 2026: two instalments, 31 January and 31 July, each normally half of last year’s income tax and Class 4 National Insurance, with the balancing payment settling the difference the following January. Interest still runs on anything paid late.
What keeps improving is the online account. Your payment history, the amount allocated, any repayment you are owed, and the option to reduce next year’s payments on account all sit in one place now. Checking it takes a minute and it is the single source of truth for where you stand.
If you would like the next year to run itself, the NetPay app tracks your income and sets aside what you will owe as you earn, so both payments on account are already covered before the date arrives. Free to download.
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NetPay does this maths for every shift, invoice and payslip, automatically.
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A Faster Payment from online banking usually reaches HMRC the same day, often within a couple of hours. It can then take a few working days for HMRC to allocate it and show it in your account, so do not worry if it is not instant. Debit card payments clear the same or next working day.
First, check you used the right reference: your 10-digit UTR followed by the letter K. A wrong reference is the usual reason a payment sits unallocated. If the reference was correct and several working days have passed with the payment still missing, contact HMRC with your payment date and confirmation to have it traced.
Nothing more is due until your next Self Assessment. On 31 January you file your return, and your two payments on account are credited against the tax it shows. If they covered the whole bill you owe nothing extra. If they fell short, you pay a balancing payment, plus your first payment on account for the new year.
Yes. If your two payments on account added up to more than your actual tax bill, the overpayment is refunded or set against what you owe next, once you file your return on 31 January. You can request the repayment through your HMRC online account rather than leaving it sitting there.
Want to see your actual take-home pay?
NetPay UK works out your real net pay after tax, NI, pension and salary sacrifice, for hourly, shift and variable-income workers. Free to download.
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A note on financial advice: NetPay UK calculates take-home pay based on official HMRC tax rules. This article reflects rules in force at the time of publication (30 July 2026). Tax rules change. For complex situations, consult a qualified UK accountant or visit gov.uk/income-tax.
