As 31 January approached, accountants and taxpayers faced the familiar last-minute scramble to file self assessment tax returns. Despite a rush of submissions on deadline day, 1.1 million taxpayers failed to meet the 2023/24 tax year cut-off.
HMRC had expected around 12 million returns, but only 10.9 million were received on time. This figure excludes voluntary returns and late registrations. Those who missed the deadline are urged to file as soon as possible to avoid further penalties.
Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s director general for customer services, thanked those who submitted on time and advised late filers to act quickly: “I’m urging anyone who missed the deadline to submit their return as soon as possible to avoid any further penalties.”
The final hours saw a rush of activity, with 732,498 returns submitted on 31 January alone. The busiest period was between 16:00 and 16:59, when 58,517 returns were filed. Many left it to the very last moment, with 31,442 submissions between 23:00 and 23:59.
This pattern of last-minute filings remains unchanged, with the same number of taxpayers missing the deadline in 2022/23.
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