Sometimes it pays to be first and this year many people took advantage of getting their finances in order as soon as they could. The first day of the new tax year meant the previous tax year's self assessment tax return could be submitted - and 250,000 people filed by the end of that first week.
The trend for filing early has been increasing over the last five years and this year marks a near 100,000 increase since 2018.
Filing nine months before the final online submission deadline for self assessments has the advantage of providing taxpayers an early indication of their tax position, including the amounts owed and how their payments on account will be structured.
Additionally, those filing as early as possible and whom have any kind of tax refund due to previous overpayment, expenses etc - they can benefit by getting a refund deposited at the earliest opportunity.
We provide a number of tools to help people estimate their tax position (particularly if there are multiple sources of income) as well as get an idea of what any payments on account could be. These figures can be calculated using our easy to use tools without requiring any personal information and ensuring privacy from estimating using HMRC's online filing system.
HMRC have provided the following table showing how people filing in the first week of the new tax year has changed since 2018 (the asterisk denotes a weekend date):
| Year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filing date | 17/18 | 18/19 | 19/20 | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 |
| 6 April | 36,939 | *35,255 | 96,519 | 63,768 | 66,492 | 77,517 |
| 7 April | *18,145 | *22,536 | 48,237 | 38,192 | 37,067 | 31,715 |
| 8 April | *15,201 | 32,602 | 39,674 | 30,971 | 28,645 | *18,896 |
| 9 April | 23,983 | 28,765 | 34,641 | 25,119 | *18,989 | *14,377 |
| 10 April | 22,060 | 24,426 | 24,391 | *19,561 | *17,190 | 29,284 |
| 11 April | 20,522 | 22,516 | *15,904 | *17,277 | 31,381 | 38,006 |
| 12 April | 19,390 | 21,126 | *11,550 | 28,023 | 28,973 | 36,415 |
| Total | 156,240 | 187,226 | 270,916 | 222,911 | 228,737 | 246,210 |