EM1939 - Working the enquiry: general payments on account: how to process a payment on account
Source: gov.uk (2025-08-21)


This page explains what to do if a customer makes a payment.

It also explains what you do when
- locking payments in SAFE
- settling your enquiry
- payments on account exceed the settlement amount
Payments

The Intelligent Payment Process (IPP) form (link Home - Intelligent Payment Processing (IPP) (hmrc.gov.uk) (https://ipp.guidance.ns2p.corp.hmrc.gov.uk/)) has been introduced to simplify payment requests to Government Banking and Payments. The aim of the change is to standardise payment requests and provide increased auditing ability to be able to monitor and continually improve the service provided.

All staff in CCG that deal with repayments, reallocations or missing payments should familiarise themselves with the IPP form and their local authorisation process.

If you receive an unexpected payment on account, or a request for a SAFE reference to make a payment, check whether a disclaimer letter is needed, see EM1941 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/enquiry-manual/em1941).

Payments in cash

Note: It is HMRC policy not to accept payment in cash. If a customer offers to make a payment on account in cash, you must ask them to pay by an alternative method. If they cannot, then you must advise them to take their payment to a branch of their own bank or building society, but they will need a payslip from us, showing their SAFE customer reference number.

Locking payments in SAFE

Important:

Locking the POA should be a protective measure, not a default action. You should only lock the POA when there is a clear reason to do so.

At this stage, you must assess whether the Payment on Account (POA) needs to be locked.

All cases should be looked at on their own merits and the following questions considered. If the answer to any of these questions is 'yes', you should lock the POA:
- is there a risk that the payment could be set against a future charge before your enquiry is complete?
- does the customer have any other ongoing enquiries?
- is the customer's behaviour or history a cause for concern?
When no risks are identified, and the POA is not at risk of being misused or misallocated, you do not need to lock it. You can stop at this stage and continue with the steps in the process you are following.

The standard lock period is 30 days. In cases where this is not enough time to complete your enquiry, you should request a specific unlock date.

To lock the POA you must complete the SAFE 3(POA) Locking stencil, in SEES, and submit a task request to the National SAFE Team.

Payments will be automatically unlocked after 30 days. If a longer lock period is required, you should include this information in the stencil.

Note:

For Caseflow task requests you should upload the stencil to Documentum and reference it in your task request.

For Non-Caseflow task requests, the SAFE team will request the stencil when they pick up the task.

When completing the SAFE stencil you must include your compliance identifier. The format of this will depend on your business unit:
- ISBC, this is:
- Directorate/customer group/PID of manager/PID of caseworker
- LB, this is:
- LB/Tax Stream/PID of CCM/PID of TS
- For FIS cases you must include your identifier in the following format:
- FIS/Region/Location/PID
- For CLPI International your identifier is in the following format:
- WMBC/CLPI/EC/Caseflow ref/PID for example WMBC/CLPI/EC/CFS-123456/765
- For Wealthy your identifier is in the following format:
- WMBC/Wealthy/Site name/UTR/PID of Site SO Manager, for example, WMBC/Wealthy/Birmingham/123456789/1234567
- For MSB your identifier is in the following format:
- WMBC/MSB/Managers PID/Caseworker PID
On receipt of a completed stencil the National SAFE team will lock the payment. If the stencil is incomplete, the stencil will be returned to you.

Settling your enquiry

Where the taxpayer has made a payment on account
- For cases settled by contract, see EM6340 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/enquiry-manual/em6340) and EM6403 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/enquiry-manual/em6403). Additionally if the settlement involves an instalment offer, see EM6404 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/enquiry-manual/em6404).
- For cases settled by assessment/amendment, for example partial closure notices or final closure notices, see EM3965 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/enquiry-manual/em3965). For discovery assessments, see EM3250 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/enquiry-manual/em3250).
Payments on account exceed the settlement amount

Where, exceptionally, the payments on account exceed the amount of the settlement, you should find out whether there are any collectible debts the overpayment can be set against.

If there are none, you should use The Intelligent Payment Process (IPP) form (link Home - Intelligent Payment Processing (IPP) (hmrc.gov.uk) (https://ipp.guidance.ns2p.corp.hmrc.gov.uk/)) to repay the excess. The IPP form allows authorisers to approve the Repayment forms, and where necessary, return the forms for amending. Each business area has its own business rules that determine whether a repayment needs to be authorised and at what monetary level. Where you are unsure what rules apply to your business area, speak to your manager.