The HMRC style guide only covers content styles and terms that are specific to HMRC, for example, names of taxes and what we call common tasks.
Check the GOV.UK style guide for style, spelling and grammar conventions across GOV.UK.
Use the same terms, style and spelling and grammar conventions in GOV.UK content and services to make the user’s end-to-end journey consistent.
If there is something missing, you can propose a new entry or suggest a change to an existing one.
Try to avoid using them. They are not accessible for all users. Only use them when they make it easier for users.
Plurals of acronyms, like ‘MPs’ and ‘GPs’, do not have apostrophes.
Initial caps.
Use ‘smart’ (curly) apostrophes rather than 'dumb' (straight) apostrophes.
For GOV.UK content designers, Whitehall automatically does this.
See Smart Quotes for Smart People to find out how to create these in different operating systems.
Initial caps.
Use business as generic term and ‘company’ only when referring to a limited company.
Lower case.
Initial caps.
For general terms, follow the guidance in the GOV.UK style guide. Follow HMRC guidance about the capitalisation of taxes, duties and levies.
If there is no specific entry about capitalising a term, then use sentence case. For example:
Always capitalise initial letters when referring to a specific tax, duty or levy by its full name. For example, Beer Duty.
Do not capitalise if you’re referring generally to a:
For example, if you say ‘Income Tax’ and later refer to it as ‘tax’, do not capitalise ‘tax’. Also, do not capitalise groups of things, like;
See percentage changes.
Initial caps.
Capitalise ‘C’ and ‘P’ when referring to a specific product, for example ‘Code of Practice 9’. Otherwise, it should be lower case.
Only use colons:
See fill in.
Lower case, unless referring to a product or process, for example ‘Compliance Checks learning’ or ‘A New Approach to Compliance Checks’. Try to use informal language like ‘checking your tax return’ if possible.
When referring to making a declaration use:
Do not use “customs declarations”.
Do not abbreviate unless services linked from your content reference ‘CDS’ due to character limits. In this case include ‘Customs Declaration Service (CDS)’ in the page summary for context.
Dashes separate groups of words into clauses. They are longer than a hyphen and always have spaces either side of them. For example ‘You can claim the actual amount you’ve spent — you’ll need to keep receipts.’
Dashes usually make sentences more complicated. Before using a dash, or pair of dashes, consider using separate sentences.
There are different ways to include an em dash in content. You can:
—Avoid the shorter en dash as they are treated differently by different screen readers.
Lower case.
Lower case.
1 hyphen.
Avoid ‘due’ and ‘overdue’ and use plain English instead, for example ‘You need to pay your return by 31 January 2020’ or ‘Your payment is late’.
If you need to use them, it should be when a user has to do something by a specific time or date only. For example, ‘Your payment is due on 31 January 2018’. Do not use them when there is no specific time or date, for example ‘Your £5,000 is now due’.
See capitalisation of taxes, duties and levies.
Hyphenated.
Hyphenated when used as an adjective.
Hyphenated when used as an adjective.
Initial caps.
Initial caps, apostrophe before ‘s’.
There is no need to expand the acronym the first time it’s used. If you’re describing a specific EORI number for Great Britain or Northern Ireland you should use either:
Do not refer to GB EORI number or XI EORI number. Do not use EORI without suffixing it with “number”.
Lower case, 1 hyphen.
Do not use.
Initial caps, 1 hyphen.
Use ‘fill in’ for the act of doing returns and forms, whether paper or online.
See penalty.
Only use a full stop to end a complete sentence. Do not use them to end headings, sub-headings or form labels.
Upper case ‘F’ and ‘N’, lower case ‘f’ for ‘form’.
Initial caps.
Initial caps.
Upper case ‘G’ and ‘A’, lower case ‘d’.
Use ‘Government Gateway user ID’. Never use:
GOV.UK designers should use ‘HMRC’ in specialist (detailed) content. They do not need to:
Hyphens connect words together. They are shorter than a dash and never have spaces next to them. For example ‘work-related’, ‘self-employed’ and ‘tax-free’.
1 hyphen.
1 hyphen.
1 hyphen.
See capitalisation of taxes, duties and levies.
Always place punctuation outside of link text unless the link is the entire sentence and it is a question. For example:
Initial caps, no acronym.
This is the brand name of digital transformation programmes not users’ tasks. Avoid the term in user guidance but use it in guidance for software vendors and agents who know the brand.
Programmes within Making Tax Digital follow the same rules but have a lower case ‘f’, for example ‘Making Tax Digital for Business’ and ‘Making Tax Digital for VAT’.
Initial caps.
Initial caps.
MRN should be written out in full (Movement Reference Number) on the first page of the journey and then written as an acronym (MRN) after that.
Use acronym Markdown so the full explanation is available as hover text.
Initial caps.
This is an electronic request sent to HMRC from a customer’s payroll software.
Initial caps.
Initial caps.
Initial caps.
Initial caps.
Avoid ‘payable’, unless referring to cheques. You can say who the cheque should be ‘payable’ to. For example, ‘Make the cheque payable to ‘HM Revenue and Customs’, not ‘This amount is payable in monthly instalments’.
Initial caps.
Upper case ‘P’ and ‘A’, lower case ‘p’ for ‘process’.
Initial caps.
Use ‘penalty’ for the sake of consistency. All fines are penalties but not all penalties are fines.
For changes to tax rates, say what the rate was and what it is changing to. For example, ‘The rate is changing from 10% to 12%’.
Do not say how much the rate is changing, for example, ‘The rate is changing by 2%’, as this may not be factually accurate.
Lower case, 1 hyphen.
Initial caps.
Lower case.
Initial caps.
Use ‘smart’ (curly) quotes rather than 'dumb' (straight) quotes.
For GOV.UK content designers, Whitehall automatically does this.
See Smart Quotes for Smart People to find out how to create these in different operating systems.
Hyphenated.
Upper case ‘R’ and ‘D’, lower case ‘a’, ‘t’ and ‘r’. Use ampersand in acronym.
Upper case ‘R’ and ‘D’, lower case ‘a’, ‘t’ and ‘c’. Use ampersand in acronym.
Follow the GOV.UK style guide on capitalising specific, named government schemes known to people outside government.
Some government schemes are styled in a specific way. These are:
Initial caps, with apostrophe.
Regular users running their own business seem to prefer ‘file’ and ‘submit’, but individuals doing Self Assessment prefer ‘send’.
User research shows that ‘submit VAT return’ is more popular than ‘send VAT return’, but ‘send tax return’ is more popular than ‘submit tax return’.
You should consider the existing content, what the business areas use in external communications and any user research findings.
Hyphenated when used as a noun. For example, ‘a subsequent agreement between the parties to set-off a claim’. Not hyphenated when used as a verb. For example, ‘losses from earlier years set off’.
Initial caps.
When generally talking about the different simplified declarations as a group, use either:
Do not use ‘Customs Freight Simplified Procedures’ or ‘CFSP’ to describe simplified declarations for imports.
When talking about the two specific procedures use:
See style for specific declarations types style for specific declarations types.
Lower case.
Hyphenated, but no hyphen in standard rate or standard rating.
Lower case unless you are referring to the Student Loans Company.
1 hyphen.
See capitalisation of taxes, duties and levies.
Hyphenated when it is before a noun, for example ‘tax-free amount’. Not hyphenated when it appears after a noun, for example ‘the amount is tax free’.
See percentage changes.
Initial caps.
Initial caps. Not ‘Unique Taxpayer Reference number’ or ‘Unique Taxpayer Reference Number’.
Lower case, with apostrophes before each ‘s’.
You can use ‘we’ to describe HMRC in content, as long as it is clear to the user who ‘we’ are. For example, ‘HM Revenue and Customs is the UK tax authority. We collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.’
Initial caps, with an apostrophe before the ‘s’ in ‘Widow’s’.
Hyphenated, but no hyphen in ‘zero rate’ or ‘zero rating’.