When you move house, you need to update your address across lots of businesses and institutions. One of the most important institutions to update when moving home is HMRC. We’ll cover exactly how to complete your address change and when to do it.

Firstly, let’s start with why you need to inform HMRC about your home move

Why do I need to update HMRC?

As we know, HMRC (also known as Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) is a state agency that administers tax, national insurance and State Pension. According to HMRC, you must update them with any change to your circumstances such as your name or change of address.

If you don’t update HMRC when moving home critical information about your tax (or worse) could go to the wrong address. In the best case you’ll miss important communications, and in the worst case, you could increase your exposure to identity fraud. When you update your address with HMRC you will also update your address across State Pension and NI.

Let’s now look at how you update your address with HMRC.

How to update your address with HMRC

There are usually three ways to complete your HMRC change of address online. They are usually postal, by phone and an online account (if you have one). However, you can now update your address with HMRC by using SlothMove, an online change of address service which allows you to inform hundreds of companies at the same time. This will enable you to let other organisations such as electoral roll, DWP, loyalty cards and many others know too.

To complete the address change, start by going to SlothMove. Enter your key information such as previous and new address, national insurance number and then select who you’d like to update your address with. Following that, click complete and then your address will update with HMRC.

Who else do I need to update my address with?

When moving home in addition to HMRC you will need to update your address across all your other providers. You should start with the time-critical providers such as energy, council, water and TV licencing. Then, look to complete the high profile providers such as HMRC, DWP, State Pension. You’ve also got to inform all of your loyalty cards such as Boots Advantage Card, Tesco, Iceland etc…

The other important institution to update that can sometimes be forgotten is the NHS, especially if you’re under the care of a hospital. This can also be updated using an online change of address service or by contacting your local GP. Like HMRC, keeping up to date records will be really important.

And finally, ensure you update your address across the electoral roll. Failure to do so might affect your credit score when moving home. That can be completed online and should be done within 2 weeks of moving home. HMRC should be updated within 7 days of moving house as it can take them a few weeks to process your address change and want to avoid any delays.