A Simple Assessment letter is HMRC’s bill for tax it already knows about
Published 12 September 2026 Reviewed against gov.uk 5 September 2026 7 min readHMRC and compliance
A Simple Assessment letter, form PA302, is HMRC working out your tax for you from figures it already has and sending the bill, without a tax return in between. It exists for people whose untaxed income cannot be collected through a tax code, most often pensioners whose state pension exceeds the personal allowance and savers whose bank interest passed the personal savings allowance, and it is legal under section 28H of the Taxes Management Act 1970, which lets HMRC assess anyone not already in Self Assessment on the information it holds. ICAEW reported in October 2025 that more than 1.3 million of these letters went out for the 2023 to 2024 year alone. The number is growing, the letters carry errors more often than they should, and you have 60 days to say so.
The letter is HMRC’s arithmetic on HMRC’s data. The 60 days are for checking that the data was right, and they start on the date printed at the top.
Who gets one and why
Three groups, in practice. Pensioners, because the state pension is paid gross and the personal allowance has been frozen at £12,570 while the pension has risen under the triple lock, so a growing number owe a little tax with no employer to collect it through. Savers, because banks report the interest they pay to HMRC every year and higher rates pushed ordinary balances past the £1,000 personal savings allowance, the mechanism our savings tax guide explains. And employees or pensioners with a PAYE underpayment too large or too late to be recovered through next year’s code. HMRC’s guide for pensioners says the letters mostly arrive between July and August after the tax year ends, though they can be issued whenever information reaches HMRC.
Section 28H excludes anyone who has filed a return for the year or been told to. If you are in Self Assessment you should not receive one, and ICAEW’s Tax Faculty has recorded members’ reports of letters sent in error to people who are. The remedy is to contact HMRC and ask for the assessment to be withdrawn, because the return is the right document and paying both would be a mess to unwind.
What the letter has to show
Section 28H requires the notice to set out the income and gains, and any relief or allowance, taken into account, and to state what is payable, how, and by when. So the PA302 carries a calculation. It lists the state pension figure HMRC took from the Department for Work and Pensions, the interest each bank reported, any employment or occupational pension income, and the allowances applied. It also carries a 14 character payment reference beginning with X, which is what you need to pay online, by bank transfer or by cheque, per GOV.UK.
The 60 day window and what to check inside it
Under section 31AA you can query a Simple Assessment within 60 days of the date the notice was issued, and HMRC must consider the query and give a final response. It may hold off collecting while it does. Miss the 60 days and the assessment stands unless HMRC exercises its discretion to allow a late query, so the calendar matters more here than with most HMRC letters.
What to check, in the order errors turn up. The state pension figure against your DWP letter for the year, since the two are often different by a few weeks of payments. Each bank’s interest against your own statements, and whether any of it was inside an ISA, which should not be there at all. Whether HMRC has estimated anything, since gift aid, employer benefits and pension contributions are sometimes carried forward from an earlier year rather than taken from this one. Whether the personal savings allowance and the starting rate for savings have been applied, which ICAEW singles out as the calculation people find hardest to check and HMRC now offers an online tool for. And whether this is the second letter for the same year. ICAEW’s October 2025 note explains that a later letter shows the total for the year including tax already demanded, so anything paid on the first letter has to be deducted before you pay the second.
| Date on the letter, for the 2025 to 2026 tax year | Payment due |
|---|---|
| Before 31 October 2026 | 31 January 2027 |
| On or after 31 October 2026 | Three months from the date of the letter |
Paying, and what to do if you cannot
The deadlines above come from GOV.UK and they run from the letter’s date, not from when it arrived, which is a reason to open post from HMRC on the day. Payment is online, by bank transfer or by cheque, using the reference on the letter. If the amount cannot be paid in full, HMRC will discuss an instalment arrangement, and ICAEW notes that since August 2025 a time to pay application for a Simple Assessment can be made online rather than by phone. Ignoring the letter is the one option that costs more than any other, because interest runs from the due date and the assessment does not go away.
What a Simple Assessment cannot do
It cannot collect tax HMRC does not know about. A Simple Assessment is built from what banks, employers and the DWP report, so it says nothing about a capital gain on shares or crypto, rental income, or anything self employed. If you have those, receiving a PA302 does not discharge your duty to tell HMRC. Gains above the £3,000 exemption, or crypto income above the £1,000 allowance, mean registering for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year, and our guide to registering for Self Assessment covers the steps. The Simple Assessment for interest and the return for gains are two separate obligations, and the second is the one that catches people who assumed HMRC had everything.
Is the letter genuine
The PA302 arrives by post or in your personal tax account, and HMRC does not chase Simple Assessment payments by text with a link. A demand that arrives as a message with a payment page attached is a scam wearing the letter’s name, and our guide to telling a real HMRC letter from a fake sets out the tells. When in doubt, log in to the tax account directly rather than through anything in the message, and the assessment will be there if it is real. I think HMRC’s move towards these letters is sensible for people with a pension and some interest, and the correct response to one is to check it line by line inside the 60 days, then pay it, in that order.
Simple Assessment questions
What is a Simple Assessment letter from HMRC?
It is form PA302, a tax calculation HMRC makes itself under section 28H of the Taxes Management Act for people not in Self Assessment, usually to collect tax on the state pension, bank interest or a PAYE underpayment that cannot go through a tax code.
Do I have to pay a Simple Assessment?
Yes, unless you query it within 60 days and HMRC amends or withdraws it. If the figures are right, pay by the deadline on the letter. If you are in Self Assessment, ask HMRC to withdraw it and deal with the tax on your return instead.
How long do I have to pay a Simple Assessment?
For the 2025 to 2026 tax year, a letter dated before 31 October 2026 is due by 31 January 2027. A letter dated on or after 31 October 2026 is due three months from its date.
What if my Simple Assessment is wrong?
Contact HMRC within 60 days of the date on the letter, under section 31AA, explaining what is wrong and with what evidence. HMRC must consider it and reply, and can hold collection while it does.
Can a Simple Assessment cover crypto gains?
No. It only uses information HMRC already holds from banks, employers and the DWP. Crypto gains above £3,000 or crypto income above £1,000 still need a Self Assessment return, whatever else HMRC has sent you.
Sources
Every figure on this page was checked against the source below on 5 September 2026.
- Pay your Simple Assessment tax bill. GOV.UK, checked 5 September 2026
- Taxes Management Act 1970, section 28H, simple assessments. legislation.gov.uk, checked 5 September 2026
- Taxes Management Act 1970, section 31AA, querying a simple assessment. legislation.gov.uk, checked 5 September 2026
- Why it is important to check simple assessments. ICAEW Tax Faculty, October 2025, checked 5 September 2026
- Simple Assessment guide for pensioners. HM Revenue and Customs, August 2024, checked 5 September 2026
- Tax on savings interest. GOV.UK, checked 5 September 2026
Fahad Zar
Crypto tax accountantAAT licensed 1010475
- AAT Licensed Accountant and MAAT, licence 1010475
- MSc Accounting and Finance, BPP University London
- Six years inside digital asset accounting, across several crypto tax firms
- Practises through Zar Enterprises Ltd, ICO registration ZC225094
- Supervised for anti-money laundering by the AAT
What matters to me is that the number on the return is true, whatever it turns out to be.
Whether this is worth a conversation
Where this stops being a reading job and starts being a hiring one.
- A Simple Assessment arrived and you also have crypto or share gains that HMRC does not know about
- You are in Self Assessment and have received a PA302 anyway
- The letter's interest figures do not match your statements and the 60 days are running
If the letter is for state pension and a little interest and the figures match your paperwork, pay it by the date on the page and keep the letter. Nothing else is needed.
If one of these is you, the first look costs nothing.
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The P800, the Simple Assessment's cousin, when the arithmetic runs your way.
Reviewed 5 September 2026DeadlineHow to register for Self Assessment
The step a Simple Assessment does not replace once there are gains to report.
Reviewed 5 September 2026
