HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has disclosed that 11.5 million individuals filed their self assessment tax returns for the 2022 to 2023 tax year by the midnight deadline on January 31st.
An estimated 12.1 million taxpayers were anticipated to submit their tax returns and settle any outstanding tax liabilities.
Among those who fulfilled their responsibilities before the deadline, a total of 778,068 managed to beat the clock and finalise their submissions on deadline day.
On January 31 2024 32,958 people left it really late filing their tax return between the hours of 11pm and midnight with 61,549 submitting between 4pm and 5pm which was the busiest hour on deadline day.
Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, said:
“Thank you to the millions of Self Assessment customers and agents who met the deadline. Anyone who has yet to file and is concerned that they cannot pay in full may be able to spread the cost of what they owe with a payment plan. Search ‘pay your Self Assessment’ on GOV.UK to find out more.”
Over a million miss the 22/23 SA deadline
According to estimates approximately 1.1 million individuals failed to meet the deadline for filing their 2022/23 tax returns which is an increase of missed tax returns from the 21/22 tax year.
A late tax return usually leads to an initial and automatic penalty of £100 with the possibility of further charges if the tax return remains late by more than three months and late payment interest if you owe HMRC income tax through SA.
If your tax return is late you should act as quickly as possible to either cancel it if you don’t need to submit one or submit it.
HMRC can help if you owe income tax through self assessment and are struggling to afford it with a time to pay arrangement worth considering.
You can appeal late 22/23 self assessment penalties
If you have an excuse that HMRC deems reasonable for submitting your 22/23 tax return after the deadline you can make an appeal for HMRC to review.
HMRC will only consider a late penalty appeal after your tax return has been submitted or cancelled in which case any penalties are usually revoked automatically.
Get ready for the 23/24 tax year
If you are needing to submit a tax return for the 23/24 tax year you can start getting ready for it now.
HMRC let you send in your 23/24 tax return from 6 April 2024 so if you can submit your tax return earlier than 31 January 2025 deadline you should consider it.
For individuals who will owe HMRC you can also make use of the HMRC budget planner which let’s you pay tax for the current tax year before the tax year actually ends.
