Faster, easier tax repayments are at the heart of the Personal Tax Account

Taxpayers can now opt to get their money back direct from HM Revenue and Customs – via their digital Personal Tax Account – without the need for a cheque or trip to the bank, HMRC confirmed today.

The online tax refund service is available to customers who use their Personal Tax Account. Tax that they have overpaid will be returned directly to their bank account within 3-5 days.

Ruth Owen, Director General of Customer service, HMRC said:

“This new service puts customers in control of their tax affairs allowing them to claim any money owing to them immediately. They can claim at a time that suits them, from a device of their choice, securely, and without needing to wait for a cheque in the post.

“Now customers will have access to funds cleared in their account within 3-5 days rather than the two weeks it would typically take for a cheque to be issued, banked and cleared.”

The online refund is just one of many services customers can access through their Personal Tax Account. With over 34 quick and easy services which would have previously meant a letter or phone call to HMRC, the Personal Tax Account makes tax less formal and time consuming.

With the Personal Tax Account customers can:

• view and update personal details
• see how their tax is calculated
• see the progress of forms they’ve sent us
• check the expected level of their state pension
• find out about Marriage Allowance entitlement, and make a claim online
• see tax credits payments and report changes in circumstances

Webchat is available to support customers who need help while accessing their online tax account.

Notes for Editors

1.Customers can access their Personal Tax Account on any device - PC, tablet or smartphone. We’ve made it much easier to get started by adding a new way to access the account using Government Gateway. It takes less than five minutes to get started today.

2.Go to the Personal Tax Account sign-in page on GOV.UK: www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account.

3.Customers will need to set up a Government Gateway account on the second page (unless they already have one). To do this they will need:

    -their National Insurance number

    -either a recent payslip or P60 (a passport can be used if you don't have these)

    -a telephone number to receive the one-time security code.

4. To set up a repayment, customers will need to notify us of their bank account details