Last minute rush for tax returns

In a last minute rush to beat the Self Assessment deadline, HMRC says a over half a million people sent in tax returns on the final deadline day, report Chartered Accountants Northampton Harris & Co

A record 9.61m people sent their tax return on time this year, the best performance ever.

With 10.34m people in Self Assessment in 2011-12, this means that 93% met the return deadlines – 31 October for paper and 31 January for online.

Of the 9.61m on-time tax returns, a record 83% were sent online. Less than one in five submitted paper returns.

Anyone who hasn’t yet sent their 2011-12 tax return to HMRC will have already incurred a £100 late-filing penalty. To avoid any further penalties, they should send their return as soon as possible, as well as pay any outstanding tax due for the 2011-12 tax year.

The busiest day for online returns was 31 January, when HMRC received 578,000. The busiest hour occurred between 4pm and 5pm on 31 January, when 46,000 returns – more than 12 per second – were received by HMRC.