In a recent announcement, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has notified users of their online systems that there will be a scheduled downtime from Friday, June 23 to Monday, June 26, 2023.

This downtime will not only affect the PAYE and National Insurance systems but also impact several other online and telephone services provided by HMRC.

The purpose of this scheduled downtime is to facilitate the migration of the PAYE and National Insurance systems to the cloud. The maintenance window will commence at 11:30 am on June 23 and conclude at 9 am on June 26. During this period, various personal tax account services will be temporarily unavailable. These services include, but are not limited to:

The ability to check income tax and state pension through PAYE.
Claiming tax refunds.
Managing child benefit.
Submitting employee expenses.
Accessing tax calculations.

Additionally, a number of unrelated services will also be impacted by the downtime, although the reasons for their unavailability remain unclear. These services include, but are not limited to:

Agent Services Account.
Childcare service.
VAT registration.
VAT submission.
Payrolling benefits.
Pension schemes.

Due to the unavailability of these services, HMRC staff members will also be unable to utilise them effectively. Consequently, the following helplines will be temporarily closed on Friday, June 23:

The Agent Dedicated Line.
The National Insurance helpline.
The PAYE helpline.

This downtime follows closely on the heels of HMRC’s recent announcement regarding the temporary closure of the Self Assessment helpline, which is expected to last for three months.