Congratulations, if you were one of the 10,833,177 taxpayers that submitted your 2017-18 self assessment tax return on time this year.

That means that 93.68% of people required forms were received by the deadline – a new record for HMRC.

This really is great news for taxpayers. It’s heartening to see fewer people paying the automatic £100 fine for missing the deadline. No one wants to waste their hard earned money on that, or any of the subsequent possible penalties.

So, well done all of you for getting your information to HMRC by the 31st January deadline.

Official reactions

HMRC are very pleased with this record breaking situation. HMRC’s Director General for Customer Services, Angela MacDonald, said: “Thank you to everyone who filed on time. This year, we had a record numbers of filers completing their tax returns by the deadline. And for any customers who are yet to file their returns, please contact HMRC – we are here to help.”

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mel Stride, said: “It is great to see so many people completing their Self Assessment by the deadline. Their income tax contributions have helped towards funding the UK’s vital public services including hospitals, schools and the emergency services.”

Self assessment statistics

For those of you who like to know the statistics of a situation, here are some of HMRC’s published figures about the January 2019 self assessment tax returns.

  • 5 million taxpayers were obliged to file a tax return
  • 10,833,177 taxpayers filed by 11.59pm pm on 31st January
  • 10,129,234 returns were submitted online (93.5%). This is the first time the online filing figure has exceeded 10 million.
  • 731,186 people are yet to file their required tax return
  • On the day of the deadline, 735,258 taxpayers submitted their returns.
  • Busiest hour on 31 January saw 60,000 submissions between 4-5pm

What do I do now I’ve missed the deadline?

If you are one of the 700,000 taxpayers that missed the deadline, the best thing to do is tackle it as soon as possible. Time is not your friend, as more cumulative financial penalties continue to be added the longer you leave it. Get your information altogether, take a deep breath and call HMRC’s Self Assessment helpline, 0300 200 3310.