Time is running out for three million people to submit their self-assessment tax return submitted to HMRC – the deadline is midnight on 31 January 2024. Please don’t be an easy target for HMRC by missing the deadline as you will be automatically fined £100 even if there is no tax to pay.
Self-assessment covers the last tax year, from 6 April 2022 to 5 April 2023.
In general most self-employed people will need to submit a self-assessment if they earned more than £1000 in the tax year. It’s likely you will also need to submit a tax return if any of the following are applicable during the last tax year:
- you received any untaxed income such as rent, savings, investments, dividends;
- you were a partner in a business partnership;
- you had a total taxable income of more than £100,000;
- you had to pay Capital Gains Tax when you sold or ‘disposed of’ something that increased in value;
- you had to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge.
You can check online if you need to submit a return.
There are penalties for submitting late tax returns which we have listed below:
- an initial £100 fixed penalty, which applies even if there is no tax to pay, or if the tax due is paid on time
- after 3 months, additional daily penalties of £10 per day, up to a maximum of £900
- after 6 months, a further penalty of 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater
- after 12 months, another 5% or £300 charge, whichever is greater
Plus if you subsequently pay any tax that you owe late, there are financial penalties charged on top. These are 5% of that unpaid at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months.
IN ADDITION, interest will also be charged on any tax paid late. HMRC currently charges 7.75% interest on late payments.
In summary, there are many different opportunities for HMRC to profit from you not submitting your tax return on time. Please don’t make their job easy, get yours done asap.
