Over 300,000 taxpayers miss self-assessment deadline

Despite a record 11.7 million people submitting their tax returns on time, over 300,000 taxpayers missed the self-assessment deadline.

On 31 January, 861,085 taxpayers filed online to meet the deadline, some with minutes to spare – 36,767 individuals filed in the last hour before the deadline. The peak filing hour on the day was between 16:00 and 16:59 when 68,462 taxpayers submitted their tax returns.

In total, 11,733,465 (97.3%) returns were received before the deadline, meaning an estimated 327,407 taxpayers missed the deadline – equating to £32m in late penalties for HMRC. Around 10.9m (94.5%) of returns were filed online, with 385,296 (3.4%) filed on paper following adjustments.

HMRC urges customers who missed the deadline to submit theirs as soon as possible or risk facing a penalty. Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s director general for customer service, said:

“Thank you to the millions of customers and agents who got their tax returns in on time. “Customers who have yet to file and who are concerned that they will not be able to pay in full may be able to spread the cost of what they owe with a payment plan.”

Contact us to talk about your tax returns.