Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988

203 Pay as you earn

(1) On the making of any payment of, or on account of, any income assessable to income tax under Schedule E, income tax shall, subject to and in accordance with regulations made by the Board under this section, be deducted or repaid by the person making the payment, notwithstanding that when the payment is made no assessment has been made in respect of the income and notwithstanding that the income is in whole or in part income for some year of assessment other than the year during which the payment is made.

(2) The Board shall make regulations with respect to the assessment, charge, collection and recovery of income tax in respect of all income assessable thereto under Schedule E, and those regulations may, in particular, include provision—

(a) for requiring any person making any payment of, or on account of, any such income, when he makes the payment, to make a deduction or repayment of income tax calculated by reference to tax tables prepared by the Board, and for rendering persons who are required to make any such deduction or repayment accountable to, or, as the case may be, entitled to repayment from, the Board;

(b) for the production to and inspection by persons authorised by the Board of wages sheets and other documents and records for the purpose of satisfying themselves that income tax has been and is being deducted, repaid and accounted for in accordance with the regulations;

(c) for the collection and recovery, whether by deduction from any such income paid in any later year or otherwise, of income tax in respect of any such income which has not been deducted or otherwise recovered during the year;

(d) for requiring the payment of interest on sums due to the Board—

(i) which are not paid by the due date; and

(ii) of which the amount is determined by the inspector (before or after the due date) in accordance with the regulations;

and for determining the date (being not less than 14 days after the end of the year of assessment in respect of which the sums are due) from which such interest is to be calculated;

(e) for the assessment and charge of income tax by the inspector in respect of income to which this section applies; and

(f) for appeals with respect to matters arising under the regulations which would otherwise not be the subject of an appeal;

and any such regulations shall have effect notwithstanding anything in the Income Tax Acts.

(3) The deductions of income tax required to be made by regulations under subsection (2)(a) above may be required to be made at the basic rate or other rates in such cases or classes of cases as may be provided for by the regulations.

(4) Any reference in this section to a payment of, or on account of, any income assessable under Schedule E includes a reference to anything which, in accordance with regulations under subsection (2) above, is to be treated as a payment of, or on account of, any such income.

(5) Regulations under this section shall not affect any right of appeal to the General or Special Commissioners which a person would have apart from the regulations.

(6) The tax tables referred to in subsection (2)(a) above shall be constructed with a view to securing that so far as possible—

(a) the total income tax payable in respect of any income assessable under Schedule E for any year of assessment is deducted from such income paid during that year; and

(b) the income tax deductible or repayable on the occasion of any payment of, or on account of, any such income is such that the total net income tax deducted since the beginning of the year of assessment bears to the total income tax payable for the year the same proportion that the part of the year which ends with the date of the payment bears to the whole year.

(7) In subsection (6) above references to the total income tax payable for the year shall be construed as references to the total income tax estimated to be payable for the year in respect of the income in question, subject to a provisional deduction for allowances and reliefs, and subject also, if necessary, to an adjustment for amounts overpaid or remaining unpaid on account of income tax in respect of income assessable under Schedule E for any previous year.

(8) For the purpose of estimating the total income tax payable as mentioned in subsection (6)(a) above, it may be assumed in relation to any payment of, or on account of, income assessable under Schedule E that the income paid in the part of the year of assessment which ends with the making of the payment will bear to the income for the whole of that year the same proportion as that part of the year bears to the whole year.