A freedom of information request shows that, in a typical year, only 33% of tax returns are filed by 20 October, suggesting that most taxpayers leave filing their returns until much nearer the online filing deadline – with 43% of returns submitted in the month of January. The statistics, released to personal tax app untied, also show that 135,000 returns are filed in the Christmas week and 17,000 on New Year’s Day.
Many returns miss the deadline completely, as Kevin Sefton, CEO of untied, notes: ‘HMRC has reported that it gets nearly 1,000 returns a day 14 months after the end of each annual deadline, and sometimes 500 a day 26 months after.’
A freedom of information request shows that, in a typical year, only 33% of tax returns are filed by 20 October, suggesting that most taxpayers leave filing their returns until much nearer the online filing deadline – with 43% of returns submitted in the month of January. The statistics, released to personal tax app untied, also show that 135,000 returns are filed in the Christmas week and 17,000 on New Year’s Day.
Many returns miss the deadline completely, as Kevin Sefton, CEO of untied, notes: ‘HMRC has reported that it gets nearly 1,000 returns a day 14 months after the end of each annual deadline, and sometimes 500 a day 26 months after.’
