How payments on account work in FreeAgent

This article explains how payments on account work in FreeAgent.

Payments on account are payments that some individuals are required to make towards their next year’s income tax and class 4 National Insurance bills. Here's how payments on account work in FreeAgent.

Payments on account in your FreeAgent tax return

When you fill in your tax return in FreeAgent, you’ll see that it works out your payments on account for the next tax year and displays this figure in box 11 on the Tax Adjustments page.

So if you’re preparing your 2020/21 tax return (the return that covers the tax year that runs to 5th April 2021), FreeAgent will show you how much you can expect to pay on account for 2021/22.

Reducing your payments on account for next year’s FreeAgent tax return

If you are advised by your accountant that you can reduce your payments on account for the next tax year, you can change the figure on the Tax Adjustments page of your FreeAgent tax return.

If you’re preparing your 2020/21 tax return, for example, and your accountant advises that you can reduce your payments on account for 2021/22, you can set box 10 to ‘yes’ and change the figure in box 11 on the Tax Adjustments page.

Bear in mind that if you reduce this figure too far, HMRC will charge you interest on a late payment of tax, so always seek your accountant’s advice first!

Finding out what you owe and when

In FreeAgent, you can see how much tax and class 4 National Insurance you owe on either the Overview screen Tax Timeline or at the bottom of the ‘Your Tax Breakdown’ page. Make sure you’re looking at the correct year, as the dates can sometimes be confusing!