When can you pay tax owed through your PAYE code?

You can pay your Self Assessment tax bill through your PAYE tax code, when all of the following apply:

• You owe less than £3,000 on your tax bill
• You already pay tax through PAYE, for example, you’re an employee or you get a company pension
• You are submitting your paper tax return by 31 October or your online tax return online by 30 December
• You have *sufficient PAYE income to allow HMRC to collect the amount

Providing you meet the criteria above, HMRC will automatically collect what you owe by adjusting your tax code.

*They will not adjust your code if:

• You do not have enough PAYE income for HMRC to collect it
• If you pay more than 50% of your PAYE income in tax
• You end up paying more than twice as much tax as you normally do

How do I request paying through my code within TaxCalc?

In TaxCalc HMRC Forms mode:

1. Go to: SA100 Core Return > Page 6

2. In the section, If you have not paid enough tax,  box 2 will be ticked. Please remove the tick if you would like to request that HMRC deduct the amount due from your tax code.

In TaxCalc SimpleStep mode:

1. Go to: Working out your tax > Collecting tax through PAYE

2. In the section 2024-25 Tax collection, you will see a tick next to If your liability is less than £3,000, HMRC can collect this through your 2025-26 PAYE code(if you have one). If you would prefer this, please remove the tick.

Class 2 National Insurance

If you’re self-employed, you cannot pay Class 2 National Insurance through your tax code unless it’s been due since before 6 April 2015. You must use one of HMRC's other ways to pay by the deadline instead.