A new campaign launched by HMRC to remind people of the impending tax return deadline (31st January 2018) has used ducks as a metaphor for the tax return alarm ticking away - instead of a quack the duck utters 'tax!'. As part of the launch, HMRC revealed interesting statistics about how some people have been getting their finances in order over the last week.
There are only two days left to complete your tax return if you wish for the Taxman to take any tax due by adjusting your tax code. This is only for people who earn enough via PAYE and where the tax bill is less than £3,000.
Over 16,000 taxpayers spent the weekend and both bank holidays pushing through their tax return online. Over 6,000 were submitted on Christmas Eve - with over 90 people burning the midnight oil.
Christmas Day saw over 2,500 people heading online to fill out their self assessment - likely whilst waiting for the food to cook!.
Finally on Boxing Day over 7,500 were busy completing their tax returns.
In total 11 million people should have completed and submitted their tax returns by the end of January or be prepared for an automatic £100 fine and then the daily interest chargeable on any tax due. Remember, the payment at the end of January will include a payment on account for the current tax year. You can use our Estimate Tax Payments tool to get an estimate of how much tax you have due and the actual amounts to be paid.
If you would like to get an estimate of what your tax due is before submitting a return you can use our tax wizard, here, and see the tax due for a combination of income sources and income types. We have other tools that will be useful leading to the deadline including our tax relief and expenses calculator, here, and our small business tax planner, here.
If you haven't already, register for self assessment online at gov.uk/selfassessment - it takes up to 21 days for a UTR code to be sent to you so you will need to hurry to avoid missing the deadline.
If you need any help with your tax return contact the HMRC tax return helpline on 0300 200 3310.