Pay PAYE by Direct Debit
I love the 'set up and forget' aspect of the direct debit system but HMRC's approach to direct debits hasn't in the past been very helpful. Firstly you have to have a separate direct debit (DD) mandate for each tax and for a lot of taxes you had to set up a fresh mandate for each payment, which seems pointless to me.
The DD system for VAT has worked well for quite a few years now, with HMRC collecting whatever amount is due 3 banking days after the due date for submitting the VAT return, so I regularly recommend VAT DD's to clients. At long last HMRC are improving their DD system for PAYE so that a single mandate can collect variable amounts.
If you choose to set up a PAYE DD this would be collected for either the amount submitted using the Real Time Information (RTI) system, or a lower figure if any overpayments have been reallocated, and the employer will receive an advance notice three days before every collection date. The money will be drawn on 23rd of each month, or the next banking day after that.
To set this up either login to your HMRC business tax account, or go to Pay Employer's PAYE, though the words in this account don't seem to have been updated yet in advance of the new DD process going live on 19th September.
I look forward to the time when we can set up DD's for Self Assessment and Corporation Tax - though given the large amounts that are often payable for these taxes it might make sense to stick with a manual method in order to retain control over the timing of the payment.