Pay employers' Class 1A National Insurance

Overview

You must pay Class 1A National Insurance on work benefits you give to your employees, eg a company mobile phone.

You need to pay these contributions by 22 July each year for the previous tax year. You’ll need to pay by 19 July if paying by post.

You pay Class 1A separately to other National Insurance paid through the PAYE system.

Ways to pay

Make sure you pay HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by the deadline. You may have to pay interest and penalties if your payment is late.

The time you need to allow depends on how you pay.

Same or next day

• online or telephone banking (Faster Payments)
• CHAPS

3 working days

• online by debit or credit card
• Bacs
• at your bank or building society
• at the Post Office
• Direct Debit (if you’ve set one up with HMRC before)
• by cheque through the post

5 working days

• Direct Debit (if you haven’t set one up with HMRC before)

Bank details for online or telephone banking, CHAPS, Bacs

You can pay by Faster Payments, CHAPS or Bacs to HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) account.

Reference number

You’ll need to give a 17-character number as the payment reference. This starts with your 13-character Accounts Office reference number. Then add the tax year you want to pay for and the digits ‘13’ to make sure your payment is assigned correctly.

You can find your Accounts Office reference number on:

• the letter HMRC sent you when you first registered as an employer
• the front of your payment booklet or the letter from HMRC that replaced it

How long it takes

Payments by Faster Payments (online or telephone banking) usually reach HMRC on the same or next day, including weekends and bank holidays.

CHAPS payments usually reach HMRC the same working day if you pay within your bank’s processing times.

Bacs payments usually take 3 working days.

Overseas payments

Use these details to pay from an overseas account:

HMRC’s banking address is:

By debit or credit card online

You can pay online.

You’ll pay a 1.5% fee if you use a credit card. The fee isn’t refundable.

Make your payment to ‘HMRC Cumbernauld’ office. You’ll need to use your Accounts Office reference number. You can find this on:

• the letter HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sent you when you first registered as an employer
• the front of your payment booklet or the letter from HMRC that replaced it

Select the previous tax year and ‘Month 12’. If you don’t do this, your payment will be allocated to the current tax year instead.

How long it takes

Allow 3 working days for your payment to reach HMRC’s bank account.

At your bank or building society

You can pay at a branch by cash or cheque.

Make your cheque payable to ‘HM Revenue and Customs only’ followed by the reference number on the Class 1A payslip HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sent you.

How long it takes

Allow 3 working days for your payment to reach HMRC’s bank account.

At the Post Office

You can pay by debit card, cash or cheque made payable to ‘Post Office Ltd’.

You must use the Class 1A payslip HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sent you when paying in.

How long it takes

Allow 3 working days for your payment to reach HMRC’s bank account.

Direct Debit

Set up a new Direct Debit through your business’s HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) online account to make a single payment for Class 1A contributions.

You’ll need to set up a payment each time you pay HMRC through Direct Debit.

Making the payment

Enter the previous tax year and ‘Month 13’ when you make your payment.

You’ll need your 13-character Accounts Office reference number to make a payment.

You can find this on:

• the letter HMRC sent you when you first registered as an employer
• the front of your payment booklet or the letter from HMRC that replaced it

Allow 5 working days to process a Direct Debit the first time you set one up. It should take 3 working days the next time if you’re using the same bank details.

By cheque through the post

You can send a cheque by post to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Make your cheque payable to ‘HM Revenue and Customs only’ followed by your reference number on the Class 1A payslip that HMRC sent you.

Sending your cheque

Send your cheque along with your Class 1A payslip. You can’t use a standard PAYE payslip from your booklet - if you do, your payment will be delayed. Don’t fold the payslip or cheque or fasten them together. Send them to:

If you’re paying by post, you can include a letter with your payment to request a receipt from HMRC.

How long it takes

You need to allow 3 working days after your payment reaches HMRC for it to clear through their bank account.

If you don’t have a payslip

You can print off a replacement payment slip. Only use this payment slip for making payments by post. It can’t be accepted by the Post Office, banks or building societies.

Check your payment has been received

Check your HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) online account - it should update within 6 working days.

If you’re paying by cheque through the post, you can include a letter with your payment to request a receipt from HMRC.