If you had a tax bill of over £1,000 at the end of January 2015, it is likely that you will have a payment on account due at the end of the month.
This amount should be 50% of what your tax bill was last year.
HMRC assume that your earnings are the same as last year (never the case). You can still reduce the payments on account if you think that your earnings are lower but you have to make sure they are, otherwise HMRC will charge you interest on paying a lower amount.
The surefire to be sure is to submit your tax return in by 31 July. This way, you’ll know your tax bill and can reduce the tax amount due at the end of July.
Payments on account only affect personal tax bills and don’t impact corporation tax (for small businesses).
