Paying tax by credit card to be banned

[gt94sss2]

The Telegraph report that over 800,000 people paid their tax bills by credit card in 2015/16. As you probably know HMRC charges a small fee to those customers to "cover the costs imposed by credit card companies and their merchant acquirer for processing these payments.".

However, from 13 January 2018 HMRC is going to stop accepting credit card payments as a result of the new consumer rules on accepting credit card payments that mean it is no longer allowed to charge such a fee or as HMRC put it:

"We will no longer be accepting personal credit card payments from the 13 January as new rules mean that we can no longer pass on what our bank charge for processing a credit card payment. It would be unfair to expect other taxpayers to pick up this cost. There are a range of ways for people to pay us depending on the type of tax being paid, including debit cards, Direct Debit, Faster Payment and BACS."

This disappointing decision was news to me and I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else so thought it worth posting in case others had missed this as well.

[Dod101]

If you owe HMRC money to be paid by 31 January 2018, you will get the info with the statement. I got mine yesterday and it clearly says that 'from 13 January 2018, HMRC will no longer accept payment by personal credit card. Debit cards and corporate credit cards continue to be accepted.'

And you will not be able to pay at a Post Office from 15 December 2017.

I could never see the point of prolonging the agony of paying by credit card anyway so I will as usual pay around 25 January via online banking.

Dod

[gt94sss2]

If you owe HMRC money to be paid by 31 January 2018, you will get the info with the statement. I got mine yesterday and it clearly says that 'from 13 January 2018, HMRC will no longer accept payment by personal credit card. Debit cards and corporate credit cards continue to be accepted.'

Ah - I got my tax calculation in November but still haven't received a tax statement/playslip so ..

I could never see the point of prolonging the agony of paying by credit card anyway so I will as usual pay around 25 January via online banking.

Often cashback/rewards outweigh any credit card fees and there is/was always the option of putting the tax on a 0% credit card..

[Dod101]

Not to sound smug about it but I have just paid HMRC by internet banking and could certainly not be bothered using a credit card with or without 0% interest. I hardly ever use a credit card and if I do I always pay it off on time anyway.

The point is that most of us have had plenty of warning about the tax bill so why not just prepare for it?

Dod

[gt94sss2]

Not to sound smug about it but I have just paid HMRC by internet banking and could certainly not be bothered using a credit card with or without 0% interest. I hardly ever use a credit card and if I do I always pay it off on time anyway.

The point is that most of us have had plenty of warning about the tax bill so why not just prepare for it?

There is no smugness about it. I also always pay my credit card off in full unless its on some sort of promotional 0% rate and I can easily afford to pay the tax bill in full. In fact, I will be paying the July 18 installment in January as well

However, given I would be be financially better off by paying by credit card due to cashback/0% offers I will do it via that.

I do agree with you that those who don't put money aside for their tax bill, especially if self employed, should.

[swill453]

"We will no longer be accepting personal credit card payments from the 13 January as new rules mean that we can no longer pass on what our bank charge for processing a credit card payment. It would be unfair to expect other taxpayers to pick up this cost."

It does seem that not all of the government is singing from the same hymn sheet. Back in July: "Stephen Barclay, the economic secretary to the Treasury, said: “Rip-off charges have no place in a modern Britain, and that’s why card charging in Britain is about to come to an end. This is about fairness and transparency.”" https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jul/19/charges-paying-card-banned-flights-tax-bills

Does anyone know if the DVLA will similarly stop accepting credit cards for vehicle tax once they can't charge the £2.50 surcharge?

Scott.

[swill453]

Does anyone know if the DVLA will similarly stop accepting credit cards for vehicle tax once they can't charge the £2.50 surcharge?

To answer my own question - yes you can now pay for car tax by credit card without a surcharge. To quote their web site "There is no fee for paying with any debit card, pre-paid card or personal credit card. An additional fee of £2.50 is applicable to all other types of cards.". I guess they're still allowed to surcharge for business credit cards.

Yipee, 0.5% cashback on my car tax!

Scott.