Over twelve million people were required to file tax returns for the income period of 2022 to 2023, with over half already up to date having filed their self assessment tax returns already.
The remainder however have not been as prudent and organised as the 50,000 people who used some holiday period downtime to get their tax returns in - with 26,000 filing on New Year's Eve (130 even doing so as the New Year ticked over!), and another 24,000 people logging on during New Year's Day.
It is now a race against time for the remaining 5.7 million people who are required to file a tax return, regardless of if any tax will be due, to submit a self assessment before the online filing deadline of January 31st 2024.
HMRC has made it clear that it will enforce the policy of applying instant penalties for those who miss the deadline of £100, whether or not tax is due or has been paid on time. Additional penalties start after the first three months of outstanding tax returns at £10 per day and then surcharges of 5 percent of tax due at 6 months and again at 12 months. The surcharge is a minimum of £300 so even if no tax is due the charge is applied.
People are also liable to interest charges. HMRC states they have the 'Time to Pay' scheme available for those with struggling finances, allowing people to set up an affordable payment plan.
If you haven't yet filed your tax return and want to get an estimate of what your tax liability could be, whether you have one income source or multiple sources of income of various types, you can use our multiple income tax estimate calculator to help you plan ahead discreetly.