The online tax refund service is available to customers who use their Personal Tax Account. Tax that they have overpaid will be returned directly to their bank account within 3-5 days.
Customers can access their Personal Tax Account on any device - PC, tablet or smartphone. HMRC have made it much easier to get started by adding a new way to access the account using Government Gateway.
Ruth Owen, Director General of Customer service, HMRC said:
"This new service puts customers in control of their tax affairs allowing them to claim any money owing to them immediately. They can claim at a time that suits them, from a device of their choice, securely, and without needing to wait for a cheque in the post.
Now customers will have access to funds cleared in their account within 3-5 days rather than the two weeks it would typically take for a cheque to be issued, banked and cleared.
The online refund is just one of many services customers can access through their Personal Tax Account. With over 34 quick and easy services which would have previously meant a letter or phone call to HMRC, the Personal Tax Account makes tax less formal and time consuming."
With the Personal Tax Account customers can:
view and update personal details see how their tax is calculated see the progress of forms they’ve sent us check the expected level of their state pension find out about Marriage Allowance entitlement, and make a claim online see tax credits payments and report changes in circumstances Webchat is available to support customers who need help while accessing their online tax account.Learn Comment
This has to be a welcome innovation but it remains to be seen whether the promised delivery of 3-5 days will be met.
Individuals can only use this method of getting refunds if they have set up a Personal Tax Account with HMRC. This is very straightforward, a couple of our colleagues at The Learn Centre set up their own accounts in a matter of minutes.
To set up an account, you will need to go to GOV>UK and then to “Personal Tax Account”
Information needed will be:
National Insurance number either a recent payslip or P60 (a passport can be used if you don’t have these) a telephone number to receive the one-time security code. To set up a repayment, customers will need to notify us of their bank account details