Its important to update your personal details on your National Insurance Number. Any Changes such as address, name or relationship status can have an effect on your income tax and benefits.
A National Insurance Number Change Address is simple to do. Its important to let the HMRC know about any changes to your personal details. Any changes in your circumstances can have effects on your National Insurance, Income Tax and benefits you are claiming. It’s easy to let them know and shouldn’t take up much of your time. The route you go down to tell the HMRC depends on what personal information has changed. You must let the HMRC know if any of the following has changed – Change of address, name and gender.
- Change of Address or Name
- Tell the HMRC About a Income Change
- Tell the HMRC About a Relationship Change
- Tell the HMRC About a Gender Change
National Insurance Number Change Address and Name Change
Name Change – You will only need to tell the HMRC about a change to your name if you’re paid a salary or pension via the PAYE system. This is to ensure any tax or National Insurance contributions are correctly recorded against your account.
In order to change your name you must currently have a National Insurance Number and a Government Gateway account. If you have lost your National Insurance Number you can apply here. A Government Gateway account is easy to set up if you don’t already have one. In your Government Gateway account there will be a tab with an application inside to change your name. If you live aboard you the process is slightly different. You won’t need a Gateway account and instead you will need to fill in a “Notification of a Change in Personal Details” application, which can be found here.
If you change your gender your name will automatically be changed. You won’t have to do both.
National Insurance Number Change Address – There are a few different routes to go down when it comes to changing your address. If you are in the UK and don’t plan on leaving the UK anytime soon you can sign in to your Government Gateway Account and make the change. If you are already living outside the UK and have already changed your UK tax liabilities with the HMRC you can use “Notification of a Change in Personal Details” application. This application can be found here. If you are just leaving the UK and haven’t already let the HMRC know you will need to fill in form 85.
Once you have let the HMRC know they will make all the changes to your record. Your national insurance number, tax credits, benefits, pensions services will all be updated. An email will be sent by the HMRC to confirm the details. If they require proof such as a legal documentation they will be in touch via email.
Tell the HMRC About a Income Change
You can either call the HMRC on 0300 200 3300 to tell them about a change to your income or you can use the “Check your income tax” form online. After you have filled in this form you can click the “Tell us about a change” to inform them about the change.
You must tell them if any of the following occurs.
- Death of a spouse or Civil Partnership
- Get a new source of income
- Have a turnover of over £85,000 (Vat threshold)
- Have new income above the personal allowance amount
- New lump sums of money such a capital gains
- Get benefits from your employer such as a company car
- New income from rent, investments
- Inheritance
- Changes in payments on account (Self-Employed)
Once you have made the change the HMRC will update your tax code and send you confirmation via post. The letter will be a PAYE coding notice that will show your new tax code. If you owe tax due to your change you will have to submit a self-assessment tax return. If your owed a tax refund the HMRC will send it to you in the from of a cheque in the post.
Tell the HMRC About a Relationship Change
You must tell the HMRC if you get married or form a civil partnership. You must also inform them of any changes such as divorce, separation or that you have stopped living with your husband, wife or partner.
If above of this relates to you, you can inform the HMRC online at: https://www.access.service.gov.uk/login/signin/creds. This method is relevant to you if you are paid a salary or pension through PAYE. If you are self-employed and submit a Self Assessment tax return, your details will be updated for both.
In order to do update your details you will need;
- A government gateway login. You will need to enter your user ID and password. If you do not have a government gateway account, you can create one when you tell the HMRC online.
- A national insurance number. Temporary reference numbers are not valid.
Benefits of updating your information include a possible tax reduction depending on your changes. It also ensures you are paying enough tax. If you do not keep your information updated, you may get a tax bill at the end of the year.
Tell the HMRC About a Gender Change
When you change gender legally the HMRC is usually told automatically when applying for a Gender Recognition certificate. Once the HMRC has been informed, they will update their records with your gender and any name change. They will also inform the department for work and pensions (DWP) of any changes. Once your information has been updated, your records will be restricted so only specialist staff at the HMRC and DWP can access them.
In regards to tax affairs, you must to the HMRC’s Public Department 1. Any questions, please contact them directly. They can either be contacted by phone on 0300 053 4730 or send a letter to full address: HMRC Public Department 1, Ty-Glas, Llanishen, Cardiff, CF14 5QZ.
If you wish to contact the HMRC yourself in regards to any changes, you have write to Special Section D (Full addreses: HMRC, Special Section D, Room BP9207, Benton Park View, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE98 1ZZ). You can inform them of the below;
- About your legal gender change.
- About your name change only (if you did not legally change gender).
- If you do not want your records to be restricted.
