Businesses paying VAT and tax bills and individuals paying tax bills by the 31st January should ensure that they are paying the money into the correct bank account to avoid late penalty charges, so says chartered accountants Clement Keys.

Clement Keys director of VAT services Steven Simmonds warns that any payments sent to the old Bank of England accounts may be returned and the payee will be deemed to be in default and liable to a fine for late payment.

"For online, BACS and CHAP's payments HMRC changed its bank to Citi Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland in April 2009 but the Bank of England accounts continued to remain open and run in parallel with the new accounts until now. HMRC has announced that during 2010 most of the old Bank of England accounts will be closed and any payments sent to those accounts will be returned.

"Businesses making payments using the Bank Giro payments system need to ensure that the payment slip shows the new NatWest sort code and account numbers not the old Bank of England account details. 

"Individuals should also check the sort codes of the bank they are paying.  If the bank account that payment is being sent to has the sort code 10.00.00 the money is likely to be going to the old Bank of England account and needs changing; Citi Bank accounts have the sort code 08.32.XX."

Details of HMRC's new bank accounts and the payment options can be found at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/index.htm