Question 1:  My what?

Your Personal tax account contains key info that HMRC has about you.  Almost everyone can access it, but only 3m of use have done so far.  I joined this merry club over the weekend and accessed mine – and I have to say – it was almost interesting! (Note to self – get out more!)

For now, it contains limited information, but under Making Tax Digital, it will become the platform for declaring all your info to HMRC.

 

Question 2:  Why do I need to?

Apart from being able to update admin info here with HMRC rather than hanging on the phone for hours – like a change of address – your personal account has details of your NI contributions record, and also shows you your state pension forecast (bit depressing!)

The stats on incorrect NI records are frightening – so it is well worth just looking over yours and seeing if it looks right as it could affect your state pension.  Mine was wrong as I had no record of contributions for a couple of years so I am going to have to look into it further.

I’ve also got to keep going until Im 67 to claim any sort of state pension!

If you are employed you can check your tax code here as well, which again can often be incorrect and mean you pay the wrong amount of tax each month.

 

Question 3:  How do I get into it?

Here is the link to start you off:

 

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

 

You will need your passport handy and your NI number.  You then receive a Government Gateway number that you need to keep.  A few days later you will receive a password in the post and once you have these, you are in!

There are a lot of negatives about Making Tax Digital, but personal tax accounts are a good idea and give you access to information that HMRC have, so you can check whether its right!

I would encourage you to set yours up and just take a look and see what’s there.  If you don’t like what you see, get in touch for help sorting it out.