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A harmonised regime is in place in respect of interest accrued on late payments of tax and on the refund of overpayments of tax. The rules applicable to late and underpaid tax are set out in the Interest on tax underpaid by companies guidance note.

It was originally intended that the harmonised interest regime would apply across all taxes; however, to date, corporation tax remains outside its scope. Nonetheless, the current formula for determining the rates applicable to overpaid corporation tax and the rate for those taxes and duties within the harmonised interest regime is the same (see below).

The current and historic rates of interest applied by HMRC to refunds of corporation tax are provided on the GOV.UK website.

See Simon’s Taxes A4.629 for a list of taxes and duties covered by the interest rules and their respective commencement dates.