HMRC wish to highlight the ways their app can help employees to become more engaged eith how they manage their money and tax. The HMRC app is free to download and can be set up in minutes, we’ve included steps to do this and information on the most popular features, including:
- claiming a tax refund
- support for students and seasonal workers entering employment
- support for families with claiming and managing their Child Benefit
- preparing for retirement
How to use the HMRC app for the first time
The HMRC app allows users to check and manage their money and tax in just a few clicks. If this is your or your employee’s first time using the app, there are 3 simple steps:
- Download the free HMRC app from the Apple App or Google Play store.
- Follow the instructions on screen to complete set up, users will be asked to sign in. If you’ve not already got an account, you’ll need to sign up by using accepted photo ID or by answering some questions instead.
- You’ll need to sign into your account the first time you use the app, but after that you can select facial recognition, a short PIN or choose to use your fingerprint to sign in quicker.
Claim a tax refund, if owed one
If you or your employees have paid too much tax, claiming a refund is easy through the HMRC app. This is the quickest way to claim your tax refund from HMRC. They’ll pay the refund straight into your bank account within one week of your claim.
To claim your tax refund, select the 'Pay As You Earn (PAYE)' section in the HMRC app. If you’re due money back from them, you’ll see a green button on the page to claim your refund and the amount you are owed.
Select this button to begin your claim.
If you haven’t yet signed up to their online services, you can still claim your refund online by searching 'P800 refund'. You’ll need your P800 reference number (you can get this from your P800 letter) and your National Insurance number.
You can find out more about claiming a tax refund via the HMRC app.
Support for students and seasonal workers entering employment
HMRC want to help make applying for new jobs quick and easy, especially ahead of the busy festive period.
Employees need their National Insurance number during the onboarding process, which can be easily found in the HMRC app. This can be accessed in minutes and saves up to 15 days waiting for them to send this by post.
Employees can also easily store a digital copy of their National Insurance number in the e-wallet of their iPhone or Android device, giving quicker access to their National Insurance number, even when offline.
Support for families – claim and manage Child Benefit
If you or your employees are responsible for children, you can claim as much as £1,331 a year in Child Benefit for the first child and could also receive nearly £881 a year for any other children you have.
Parents can claim and manage their Child Benefit in the app and online and could get their first payment in as little as 3 working days. You can also use the app to view recent payments, get proof of entitlement and
update your bank details. This will all help to ensure you don’t miss out on any payments.
If you or your employees’ income is over £60,000 a year, you should still apply. You may have heard of the High Income Child Benefit Charge, but this shouldn’t put you off. By claiming, you and your employees can get National Insurance credits, which count towards future eligibility for the State Pension.
You can opt out of payments when you claim or receive the payments and pay the charge through Self Assessment.
Preparing for retirement
If you or your employees are thinking about retirement, you can get ready for the future by checking your State Pension forecast and National Insurance contributions in the app.
The app is the quickest and easiest way to see how much State Pension you could get, when you can get it and increase it by filling any gaps in National Insurance Contributions, if you can.
It’s important to check if you can make voluntary contributions as soon as possible. You and your employees have until 5 April 2025 to make voluntary contributions back to 6 April 2006. After the deadline, people will only be able to make voluntary contributions for the previous 6 tax years.
Thoughts?
We should point out that the above explanation comes directly from HMRC. If the app works as they say it does then it is definitely a step in the right direction but we would be very interested to hear any feedback from real world users - good or bad!