As is the norm for early February, HMRC has now published the figures showing just how many tardy taxpayers failed to meet the 31st January deadline to submit their self-assessment tax returns
HMRC were expecting just over 12 million tax returns to be filed by deadline day, but just under 11 million of the expected returns were received by 31st January, excluding voluntary returns and late registrations. As a result, around 1.1m taxpayers missed the 2023/24 tax return deadline and will all receive a penalty notice for £100.
HMRC is advising anyone who missed the deadline to submit their return as soon as possible to avoid additional charges. Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s director general for customer services, said: “Thank you to the millions of people and agents who filed their self-assessment tax return and paid any tax owed by 31st January. I’m urging anyone who missed the deadline to submit their return as soon as possible to avoid any further penalties.”
Deadline day
As per usual, HMRC’s ‘Deadline Day’ of 31st January saw a huge number of filings, with nearly three-quarters of a million returns submitted on the final day. The busiest time for submissions, once again was in the late afternoon, with around 60,000 filed between 4pm and 5 pm.
However, as usual, many waited until the last possible moment, with over 30,000 filing between 23:00 and 23:59, just before the clock struck midnight. It is therefore no surprise that the final hours were manic, with many racing against the clock to get their tax returns submitted before the penalties started.
The classic habit of many taxpayers leaving things until the last minute, shows no sign of going down despite all the publicity and with the certain knowledge, that if you miscalculate, a £100 fine awaits. After over 25 years of self-assessment this is a pattern that shows no signs of changing, as the last-minute-dot.com attitude of around one million taxpayers now seems to be a staple of the tax return season year after year.
Stressed accountants
As the deadline loomed closer, accountants in general braced themselves for late nights and high levels of stress due to the familiar chaos of last-minute clients begging them to help. As a group, we always try to ensure that despite culpability on the part of the client, we would attempt to submit the return on time.
Part of the problem is that many clients do not have anything more than a vague idea of the level of tax they are likely to owe and when they’re told a few days, or in some cases a few hours before the tax return has to go in, they often have a melt-down. It can be very frustrating as an accountant to have a client begging you for help to reduce his/her tax bill, simply because they had not kept their tax affairs up to date and/or put money aside to pay their tax bills.
I could give you a long list of examples of clients who appeared to be wired to the last-minute.com attitude to life, including their responsibilities to the tax office. Indeed, this year, despite this firm advising all clients that they had to bring in their books and records a minimum of 8 weeks before the deadline, the usual suspects trailed in late and ended up paying additional fees to pay our staff for staying on in the evenings to get the work completed.
One client, stopped me in the street at 7pm on 31st January as I was making my way to the carpark and proudly held out a carrier bag of records , stating, “I’ve managed to get my stuff together before the tax deadline!” The gentleman then became very upset when I told him that they would not be done that day and they would just have to accept a fine.
Accountant’s view
All regular readers of this Blog will not be surprised when they read this article as it is similar to a Blog I do in early February, every year following the 31st January deadline. What never ceases to surprise me, is that apart from the odd person new to the self-assessment tax regime, the vast bulk of tardy taxpayer clients of ours, are the same faces year after year.
Why oh why, don’t they ever learn?
