5. Don’t forget to pay the tax itself
Irrespective of when you file your tax return, make sure you have paid what you owe by midnight on 31 January 2025.
If you are having difficulty paying, you might be able to agree a payment plan online with HMRC, as long as you owe £30,000 or less.
Even if none of the above apply to you, you might still have to file a tax return if you have received more than £1,000 returns from savings and investments in the tax year.
4. Take care over the child benefit tax trap
Thresholds for clawing back child benefits are higher now, but 2023/24 taxpayers with children need to be aware of the old rates.
Between 3pm and 4pm proved to be the most popular time to file online self-assessment tax returns on Christmas Day, with 368 filing their return between these times.
‘For those who haven’t started yet, our online service is available 365 days a year so there’s still a chance to get it done before 2024 is out. Go to Gov.uk and search “self assessment” to access the online help and start today.’
You must also file a return if you had an income of more than £150,000 in the last tax year.
Self-assessment: You need to pay the tax you owe by midnight 31 January 2025
An additional-rate taxpayer could claim 25 per cent tax relief from HMRC on top of the 20 per cent relief they receive automatically.
Over 23,700 people filed on Christmas Eve instead of last-minute shopping and wrapping. The most popular time was 11am to midday, when 3,458 filed their tax return, HMRC said.
You can apply to reduce your payments on account for the next year if you think your earnings will be significantly lower than before.
Over the same three-day period last year, 25,769 people submitted their returns, HMRC added meaning a 55 per cent surge this festive period.
Self-assessment taxpayers have until 31 January 2025 to file their online return and pay the tax they owe to HMRC. For paper returns, the deadline was 31 October 2024.
Child benefit for 2023/24 was withdrawn gradually once you or your partner earn over £50,000. The benefit was completely extinguished once you hit £60,000.
This adds an automatic top up to pension contributions, meaning, for instance, a £2,000 personal contribution would automatically be boosted by £500 to £2,500.
According to HMRC, 11,932 people submitted their tax return on Boxing Day, with the most popular time being from 4pm to 5pm, and 1,108 filing during this timeframe.
‘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.’
For capital gains declarations, although changes to CGT were announced in the Budget this year, gains made when you sold or transferred investments in the latest tax year will still be taxed at the previous lower rates of 10 per cent or 20 per cent, depending on your other income that year.
You should check for savings and investment income, namely interest and dividends, as well as gains you have made on selling investments outside Isas or private pensions.
You will pay tax on interest earned on your cash savings that exceeds the personal savings allowance, which currently stands at £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and £500 for higher rate taxpayers.
As well as paying the correct amount of tax for the self-assessment return, payments on account also need to be factored in.
