PAYE Accounts Office Reference number

The employer’s PAYE Accounts Office Reference number is a unique, 13 character code displayed on the vast majority of communications received from HMRC.

Accounts office reference numbers all have the same strict format:

The three digit number of your tax office (e.g. 123)
Two alpha characters (e.g. PA)
Eight numeric characters (e.g. 12345678)

e.g. 123PA12345678

HMRC issue software providers with a ‘checking algorithm’, which is used by Payroll Manager to determine whether or not the Accounts Office reference that you enter is valid.

HMRC also have a page on their website where you can check the validity of the Accounts Office reference: Simply enter the number into the box (step 1) and click ‘Check reference’ (step 4) – there is no need to complete the other fields in order to check a reference.

PAYE / NIC current year reference checker