Penalties to be issued as one million people miss key government deadline

HMRC will consider the reasons for missing the deadline

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has said that at the end of Saturday, 27,456 people filed in the final hour before the cut-off for 2024-25 returns at midnight.

The busiest hour of people filing through online self-assessment was from 17:00 GMT on Saturday, as HMRC helplines stayed open and webchat services were extended at the weekend.

The automatic penalty is £100 for those who missed the deadline, the tax authority said.

On the final day, out of about 11.5 million submissions, some 475,722 people filed on the final day.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC's chief customer officer, thanked the millions of people and agents who filed their self assessment tax return and paid any tax owed by 31 January.

However, he warned that “anyone who missed the deadline should file their return as soon as possible, as penalties and late payment interest may be charged.”

Through PAYE (pay-as-you-earn), millions of people have tax automatically deducted from their wages.

However, those with more than one source of income may need to file each year through self-assessment.

It includes those who earned more than £1,000 in the 2024-25 financial year from self-employment, or by letting out a property or land.

On the other hand, those earning more than £150,000, whose high income was the only reason they needed to file previously, or those who had switched to paying the high income child benefit charge through PAYE, were some who were not required to file this.

A year earlier, a similar number of people had missed the filing deadline. The following penalties are applied for anyone doing so:

- An initial £100 fixed penalty, even if there is no tax to pay, or if the tax due is paid on time
After three months, there could also be additional daily penalties of £10 per day, up to a maximum of £900
- After six months, there could be a further penalty of 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater. - - After 12 months, there could be another 5% or £300 charge, whichever is greater
- There are also additional penalties for late payments of 5% of the tax unpaid at 30 days, six months and 12 months
- If tax remains unpaid after the deadline, interest may also be charged on the amount owed

HM Revenue and Customs, however, will take into consideration customers' reasons for missing the deadline, as those with a reasonable excuse may avoid being fined.

HMRC raises tens of millions of pounds each year from penalties.