The government announced that a record number of people submitted their tax returns online for 2018/2019.
Self-employed workers and anyone with a secondary source of income must complete tax returns and file them to HMRC every year before the deadline.
A record 10.4 million self-assessment tax returns were filed before 11:59pm on the 31 January 2019 deadline, according to figures published by HMRC.
Of around 11.1 million people who were required to submit tax returns for the year 2018/19, 93.7% successfully met the midnight deadline. The most popular time for submission was between 4pm and 5pm on Friday 31st January, when almost 60,000 returns were filed.
Cutting it fine, HMRC’s data shows 26,562 taxpayers filed their returns with less than 10 minute before the deadline.
However, many returns were left late. 700,000 people missed the tax return deadline and will have faced an initial fine of £100.
If the return was still not submitted after 3 months, the fine can rise to an extra £10 a day up to a maximum of £900, with additional penalties beyond 6 and 12 months.
However, those who are able to provide HMRC with a ‘reasonable excuse’ will have their fines waived.
Angela MacDonald, director-general for customer services at HMRC, said:
“I’d like to thank everyone who filed and paid on time, but anyone yet to file or pay should contact HMRC straight away because we are here to help
It’s really fantastic to see that each year, more and more self-assessment customers are getting ahead of the game and submitting their tax return before the 31 January deadline.
But we’re not complacent, we want the number missing the deadline to be zero, and we’ll continue to adapt the process.”
Talk to us about any aspect of self-assessment.