Have I got a Personal Tax Account – and why do I need one?

Ever forget an important tax document or miss a deadline? We’ve all been there. But what if there was a handy online tool that could help you keep track of everything and even save you money?

That’s where your Personal Tax Account (PTA) comes in. It’s a free and secure online service from HMRC that allows you to manage your tax affairs in one place. But beyond just keeping things organised, your PTA can also help you uncover tax savings opportunities and avoid costly penalties.

Let’s dive deeper and see why having a Personal Tax Account is a no-brainer.

Apply using this URL to get access to lots of useful information that HMRC hold about you!

https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account

(NB: this is not the same as your Self-Assessment Account if you have one)

In your Personal Tax Account, you can:

• Check your Income Tax estimate and tax code
• Fill in, send and view a personal tax return
• Claim a tax refund
• Check your Child Benefit
• Check your income from work in the previous 5 years
• Check how much Income Tax you paid in the previous 5 years
• Check and manage your tax credits
• Check your State Pension
• Check if you’ll benefit from paying voluntary National Insurance contributions and if you can pay online
• Track tax forms that you’ve submitted online
• Check or update your Marriage Allowance
• Tell HMRC about a change of name or address
• Check or update benefits you get from work, for example company car details and medical insurance
• Find your National Insurance number
• Find your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number
• Check your Simple Assessment tax bill

I have highlighted the bit about NI contributions because there is a deadline. You need 35 years of NI contributions to qualify for a full state pension. Normally you can make up 6 years’ worth in arrears, but Until April 5th this year (2025) you can make up gaps back to 2006. Nearly 20 years. So it is really worth checking this out.

If you are employed, your NI contributions are automatically credited via your payroll, but this is helpful if you have had gaps in employment due to maternity or other reasons. It will also help you to check if you have any credits applied during those periods.

However, if you are self-employed, this is really important. A client recently checked his NI record to discover that while he had paid his Class 4 NI contributions throughout the years, he had many years of unpaid Class 2 NI. It turned out that even though he had submitted Self-Assessment tax returns through all those years, he had never notified HMRC that he was self-employed, and his Class 2 NI payments had all been credited back to him. It is the Class 2 NI that entitles you to a State Pension. And whilst you can make the years up, it is much more expensive than paying them correctly in the first place.