- 37,435 people completed their tax return over the festive period (Source: Festive filers sleigh their Self Assessment returns)
- 4,606 of these were on Christmas Day itself, a slight increase from last year
- Five tips to avoid penalties with the 31 January deadline approaching
Charlene Young, senior pensions and savings expert at AJ Bell, comments:
“A whopping 4,606 people chose to tackle their taxes while millions of others were tucking into their Christmas dinner, opening presents or on a walk to blow out the cobwebs. This year’s numbers were up slightly compared to last year, which saw 4,409 file on 25 December.
“Those who didn’t quite get around to doing it on the big day took the opportunity on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, with 22,350 and 10,479 filing their tax returns on those days respectively. Over the three days between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, 37,435 in total filed their tax returns, a slight drop of 6.6% on the same period in 2024.
“The deadline for filing and paying any tax due for 2024/25 is 31 January 2026. With a month to go, here are five tips to make sure you don’t get caught out and face a fine.”
- Check if you need to file
“There’s no longer a requirement to file if your only source of income is already taxed through the PAYE system, but thousands of people still get caught out each year. They risk a £100 fine, which increases if you leave any tax bill unpaid.
“You can check whether you need to complete a tax return using this handy tool on the government website. And even if you don’t have to file, you might still need to tell HMRC directly about your side hustle and other ways you top up your income.
“You must file a return for 2024/25 if any of the below applied during that tax year:
- You worked for yourself and earned more than £1,000
- You had to pay capital gains tax on something you sold or transferred for a profit
- You had to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge and do not pay it through PAYE
- You were a partner in a business partnership
“But even if none the above apply to you, you might still have to file if you’ve received more than £10,000 from savings and investments in the tax year. If HMRC wrote to you asking you to send a return but you believe you don’t need to, you’ll need to tell them ASAP. HMRC might not be aware of changes in your circumstances, so you’ll need to tell them so they can update their records. If you don’t, you still risk a fine for not filing, even if you have no tax to pay.”
- Get your statements sorted
“Your savings and investment providers would have each sent you an annual summary/statement after 5 April detailing what you earned with them for the tax year, as well as details of the gains or losses on any investments you sold in that time.
“Most of these are now online, but there’s a danger any paper statements could be gathering dust in your to-do pile.
“You need to check for savings and investment income (interest and dividends) as well as gains you’ve made on selling investments outside of ISAs or pensions. If this is more than £10,000 for the year, you’ll need to file. Below the limit, and you can contact HMRC directly without having to navigate the self-assessment system.”
- Watch out for the child benefit tax trap
“The thresholds for clawing back child benefit increased on 6 April 2024, which would have been welcome relief for many. But the benefit for 2024/25 would have been withdrawn gradually once you or your partner earned over £60,000, before being completely extinguished once you hit £80,000.
“If you need to repay some or all of your child benefit payments for that year and your tax code wasn’t adjusted already to account for it, you’ll need to repay via self-assessment. Eventually, the taxman will catch up with those who fail to do so, and they may incur an extra penalty as a result.”
- Higher or additional-rate taxpayer? You could claim £’000s in pension tax relief
“Anyone paying into a SIPP between 6 April 2024 and 5 April 2025 would’ve received basic rate relief of 20% automatically. This adds an automatic top up to pension contributions – a £2,000 personal contribution would automatically be boosted by £500 to £2,500 in their pension – but higher rate taxpayers need to claim the extra £500 tax relief they are owed from the Revenue. This rises to £625 for an additional-rate taxpayer.
“Even if you only make a relatively modest pension contribution, you could get a cheque worth a few hundred pounds. This can run into the thousands if you make larger pension contributions or you’re able to backdate your claim for previous years.
“If you already complete a self-assessment tax return, you must claim through your tax return for the current tax year and any previous years. If you no longer have to complete a return (and you’ve checked HMRC know this), you can claim directly from this using the new online service.
“Many people don’t realise they need to claim for pension tax relief, especially because it is only necessary with some types of pension scheme, but not others. If you are paying into a ‘net pay’ pension scheme, your contributions will be taken from your pre-tax salary, meaning income tax relief is usually paid automatically. As a result, you shouldn’t need to make a claim as you should already have received the tax relief you are due. If you aren’t sure and you pay tax at 40% or 45%, it is definitely worth checking if you’re getting the extra tax relief.”
- Don’t forget to pay the tax itself
“And finally, don’t forget to pay on time too. Whenever you filed (or plan to), make sure you’ve paid what you owe by midnight on 31 January.
“If you don’t, you’ll start to accrue daily interest from 1 February. The annual interest rate charged by HMRC will sit at a whopping 7.75% from 9 January 2026, with further surcharges if the bill remains unpaid months later.
“If you’re having difficulty paying, you might be able to agree a payment plan online with HMRC as long as you owe £30,000 or less. You can also apply to reduce your payments on account for the next year if you think your earnings will be significantly lower than before.”
