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

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

Personal Tax

Foreign tax relief

Foreign tax reliefIncome and gains may be taxable in more than one country. The UK has three ways of ensuring that the individual does not bear a double burden:1)treaty tax relief may reduce or eliminate the double tax2)if there is no treaty, the individual can claim ‘unilateral’ relief by deducting

14 Jul 2020 11:44 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more
tag-icon Tax Returns
Personal Tax

Payment of tax due under self assessment

Payment of tax due under self assessmentNormal due dateIndividuals are usually required to pay any outstanding income tax, Class 2 and Class 4 national insurance, and capital gains tax due for the tax year by 31 January following the end of the tax year (ie 31 January 2025 for the 2023/24 tax year).

14 Jul 2020 12:52 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more
Owner-Managed Businesses

Sales, advertising and marketing

Sales, advertising and marketingExpenditure on sales, advertising and marketing activities may include amounts which are disallowable for the purposes of calculating trading profits. This may be because the expenditure is:•capital in nature (see the Capital vs revenue expenditure guidance note)•not

14 Jul 2020 13:28 | Produced by Tolley Read more Read more