How to pay corporation tax

Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
Produced by Tolley in association with Anton Lane of Edge Tax
Corporation Tax
Guidance

How to pay corporation tax

Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
Produced by Tolley in association with Anton Lane of Edge Tax
Corporation Tax
Guidance
imgtext

Methods of paying corporation tax

All corporation tax must be paid electronically. There are several different methods of making electronic payments:

  1. •

    Direct Debit

  2. •

    internet, telephone or BACS direct credit

  3. •

    corporate debit or credit card

  4. •

    Bank Giro

  5. •

    CHAPs

Corporation tax payment reference number

Each form of payment requires the inclusion of a corporation tax payment reference. The ‘payment reference’ is different to the unique taxpayer reference (‘UTR’) and is a 17-character reference for the accounting period to which the payment relates.

The corporation tax reference is usually printed on the payslip and other HMRC correspondence and consists in part of the unique taxpayer reference (UTR) number. If the company does not know the corporation tax reference number, HMRC should be contacted to confirm this. Failure to quote the payment reference number when making a payment may cause acknowledgement of the payment to be delayed, returned or allocated to the wrong accounting period.

Payment by Direct Debit

In order to pay by Direct Debit, the company has to be registered with

Continue reading the full document
To gain access to additional expert tax guidance, workflow tools, generative tax AI, and tax research, register for a free trial of Tolley+™
TAKE A FREE TRIAL NOW
Anton Lane
Anton Lane linkedinicon twittericon

Managing Partner, Edge Tax LLP , Corporate Tax, OMB, Employment Tax, International Tax, Personal Tax, IHT Trusts and Estates

I started my career helping to sort out tax problems for high net worth individuals, corporations and high profile clients under investigation for suspected serious fraud at Ernst & Young. I specialised in anti avoidance legislation targeting offshore structures and held senior positions with large offshore fiduciary service providers. I established the Edge brand over a decade ago and in 2012 focused the main business on managing tax risks, handling suspected serious fraud cases and assisting clients and advisers with disclosures to HMRC.

Read moreRead more
Powered by Tolley+™
  • 01 Aug 2023 11:11

Home/ Tolley Tax Guidance/ Corporation Tax / Tax administration for companies

Popular Articles

Trusts and Inheritance Tax

Gifts out of surplus income

Gifts out of surplus incomeA valuable exemption from inheritance tax (IHT) applies to gifts out of surplus income. This exemption applies only to lifetime gifts and is therefore a key part of lifetime planning. The exemption applies to both outright gifts and gifts into trust. Gifts which meet the

14 Jul 2020 11:48 | Produced by Tolley in association with Emma Haley at Boodle Hatfield LLP Read more Read more
Personal Tax

Simple assessments

Simple assessmentsFrom 2016/17 onwards, HMRC has the power to make a ‘simple assessment’ of the taxpayer’s income tax and / or capital gains tax liability outside of the self assessment system. As HMRC already receives significant amounts of information on the income received and tax paid by

14 Jul 2020 13:40 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more
Corporation Tax

Corporate interest restriction ― administrative aspects

Corporate interest restriction ― administrative aspectsThe corporate interest restriction (CIR) regime has some specific administrative rules in addition to the general administrative requirements for corporation tax returns. This guidance note does not include commentary on provisions that are

14 Jul 2020 11:19 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more