Your Accounts Office Reference Number is a unique, 13 character code which will be shown on the letter you received from HMRC when you first registered as an employer. You will be unable to complete your system set-up if you have recently registered as an employer and are not in receipt of this letter/reference number. This reference will also be displayed on the vast majority of other communications you receive from HMRC.
If you call HMRC at any point to discuss anything in relation to your PAYE account, the odds are you will be asked to provide this reference as a security check before they will discuss any matter with you, so it's always advisable to keep this reference handy.
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All Accounts office reference numbers have the same strict format in common, this is is as follows:
- Three digit number of your tax office
- Two alpha Characters
- 8 numeric characters.
Example: 123PA12345678.
Incorrect accounts office reference numbers entered on to EnrolPay can result in a possible Real Time Information (RTI) submission failures and also confusion at HMRC. This could cause delays in information reaching your HMRC account ultimately resulting in possible penalties and charges being applied. It is therefore vital that the correct reference is entered as part of your employer registration process.