Paying annual tax bill in one go?

[elizabs]

I'm just about to start a new job that requires me to administer my own PAYE once per year via tax return. Thankfully it's a regular monthly salary so should be easy for me to set the money aside each month and not end up doing a Kerry Katona and going bankrupt but the concept is still unsettling me. Does anyone in this situation have any other advice, and is there anything better for this purpose than a savings account/ISA to stick my monthly 'tax' allocation into?

I put money by each month when I was self employed then paid the bill in one go after I had completed my tax return.
Incidentally if you are working for one company and it's a permanent arrangement rather than a contract with a finite end, then in could be argued you are not supposed to be self employed. Check out the HMRC website for details. You may have to have a discussion with your employers about it too.
Technically if you are self employed you should be issuing an invoice for your work each month too, and keep a basic set of accounts. It doesn't need to be complicated, just income and expenditure.

Thanks! I do worry about temptation to 'dip' into the set aside. Will have to be strong.

I'll be working for an embassy and they can't operate PAYE so unfortunately this is the only way to do it. It's a strange arrangement and I have been given really patchy advice by HMRC so far.

Once you've done one tax return, if you've earned over a certain amount, you'll start getting "payments on account" notices. This is basically an estimate for your tax bill for the next year divided into two lump sums. One is paid early on in the tax year and one later.
I never earned enough to fall into that category but just make sure you have enough put by for that. If there's any under or overpayment it will be adjusted after you complete your next tax return. It's best to do your form as early as poss.

This categorically isn't PAYE - it's self-assessment. As pp said should only be used if you are self employed and not a worker.

You'll need to set more aside in the first year as you'll have to make payments on account. Why can't they operate PAYE? Going freelance affects benefit entitlements there are things you won't be able to get including statutory mat pay so I would get some expert advice

Thanks folks - it IS PAYE, just administered by the employee once a year (so not really fulfilling the 'AYE' part but there we go) due to the bizarre tax arrangements of embassies, so I do qualify for Mat pay etc and it's all above board! I didn't know about the payments on account, helpful to know I maybe need to save more than I've calculated each month just in case.

I am a company director and pay myself an annual salary once a year via PAYE plus I take dividends throughout the year.

The PAYE side of things is easy, you download a programme onto your computer and inputting the information is easy but I am pretty sure you can only pay the PAYE as a one off annual lump sum if you are paid as a one off annual lump sum. So if you are paying yourself monthly you need to do the PAYE monthly.

I just pay myself annually in one lump sum which means I only need to make one PAYE payment.

You need to take proper advice on this.