Why are we doing this?
As a lender to hundreds of recruitment businesses, it's important that we understand the overall financial health of our customers and suppliers. This is a common requirement for most invoice finance lenders.
Businesses often have ongoing VAT and PAYE liabilities and 'time-to-pay' arrangements with HMRC, this is perfectly normal. For those with large liabilities, we'll just want to understand things so we're all on the same page.
What do I need to do?
1. Log in to HMRC Online
Go to GOV.UK → HMRC Online Services
Sign in using your Government Gateway / One Login details
2. VAT statement (if VAT registered)
Navigate to VAT → account overview
Make sure you're on the account overview page (or "Check what you owe") — not just the VAT menu screen, and not a filed VAT Return or a payment history list
Click through so the actual next return due date shows on the page, not just a link to it
Print → Save as PDF
Your saved document needs to clearly show:
Business legal name
VAT registration number
Next payment due — "no payments due right now" or £0.00, or the amount owed if not
No outstanding balance
Confirmation your last return was submitted on time
Next return due date
3. PAYE Statement
Navigate to PAYE for Employers → Annual statements
Make sure you're on the Annual statements and payment record page — not just the PAYE homepage, which only shows a summary and isn't sufficient on its own
Print → Save as PDF
Your saved document needs to clearly show:
Business name
Employer PAYE reference
Accounts Office reference
All four monthly PAYE periods, each showing £0.00 (fully paid), or the amount outstanding if not
No unexplained outstanding charges or credits
Confirmation your Variable Direct Debit is set up, if you have one
4. Capture it properly — every time
To save you a second round trip, please check for these before uploading:
Wrong page — a filed VAT Return report, a payment history list, or the PAYE homepage don't show your current position. We need the live account overview / "check what you owe" page for VAT, and the Annual Statements page for PAYE.
No date visible — Neither HMRC screen adds a date to the page by itself, so a plain screenshot can't prove when it was taken. Instead of a screenshot, please use your browser's Print → Save as PDF function on the page.
No business name or reference visible — make sure your business name and VAT/PAYE reference are on the page, not cropped out.
Link instead of a value — for VAT, click through so the actual next return date is shown, not just a "view deadlines" link.
Older than 90 days — VAT and PAYE balances move month to month, so we can only accept documents dated within the last 90 days.
5. Upload
Log in to the Raise Platform and upload the files using either the on-screen upload prompt or by navigating to Settings → Account → HMRC Statement.
No VAT or PAYE?
If you don't have a PAYE scheme
If your business is director-only, has no employees of its own, and pays all contractors via umbrella or an LTD, a verbal or email statement isn't enough on its own, we'll need HMRC confirmation that no PAYE scheme is registered. To get this:
Log in to your Business Tax Account using your business's own Government Gateway login — not an accountant's or agent's login.
Check "Manage account" / your list of enrolled services first. If PAYE for Employers is already listed there, you do have a scheme, and the standard PAYE statement above is what we need instead.
If it isn't listed, click "Get access to a tax, duty or scheme" (sometimes shown as "Add a tax to your account") and select "PAYE for employers".
If no scheme exists, HMRC will show you the employer registration start page rather than an existing Accounts Office reference — that's the screen that proves the negative. Please don't submit or complete the registration unless you intend to start a PAYE scheme now.
Screenshot that exact screen (not a menu page), using Print → Save as PDF so the date and URL are stamped on it.
If you're still waiting on VAT registration
If you've applied for VAT registration but HMRC hasn't yet issued a VAT number, an email saying "we've applied, waiting on HMRC" isn't enough on its own.
Instead, please provide a screenshot of your online VAT registration application (or VAT1 online submission confirmation) from your Business Tax Account, showing the application reference number and submission date. Once you're VAT registered, we'll need your VRN and the standard VAT account overview screenshot above.
Questions?
Any questions - jump on chat or pop us an email. We're here to help.