A record number of people filed their tax return on time this year
HMRC have revealed that 9.61 million people made sure their tax returns were submitted on time this year, a higher number than ever before.
10.34 million people in were eligible for Self Assessment in 2011-12, meaning that around 93 per cent of these have met the deadline for filing their returns. A second record was also broken this year, 7.93 million out of the total 9.61 million on-time tax returns were sent online rather than by paper, that is a record 82.5 per cent.
Anyone who was required to send, but hasn’t yet sent, their 2011-12 tax return to HMRC will have already incurred a £100 late-filing penalty. If you are one of the 700,000 people who fall into this category you should send your return as soon as possible, and pay any outstanding tax due for the 2011-12 tax year, or face further penalties.
The busiest day for online returns was 31 January, when HMRC received 578,000 returns. The busiest hour occurred between 4pm and 5pm on 31 January, when 46,000 returns – more than 12 per second – were received by HMRC. 1,548 people even submitted their tax return online on Christmas Day and 12,077 did so on New Year’s Day.
