Do I need to complete a tax return? (2024)

What is Self Assessment (SA)?

Self Assessment is not a tax – it is a way of paying tax.

The idea of Self Assessment is that you are responsible for completing a tax return each year if you need to, and for paying any tax due for that tax year. It is your responsibility to tell HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) if you think you need to complete a tax return.

If you complete a Self Assessment tax return, you include all your taxable income, and any capital gains. You also claim any tax allowances or reliefs that you are entitled to on the tax return.

You send the form to HMRC either on paper or online. The information on the tax return is used to calculate your tax liability. This process is called Self Assessment.

Do I need to complete a Self Assessment tax return?

Most people in the UK pay all their tax ‘at source’, for example, through Pay As You Earn (PAYE) if they are employed, and are not required to file a tax return. Self Assessment therefore does not affect everyone and you will normally only need to complete a form if one or more of the following apply to you:

• You are working for yourself – you are self-employed;
• You are a partner in a partnership business;
• You are a minister of religion – any faith or denomination;
• You are a trustee or the executor of an estate.

You also might need to complete a Self Assessment tax return if:

• You are a company director, if you have income that is not taxed under PAYE;
• You have untaxed income. This could be, for example, interest that is not taxed before it is paid to you or rental income. If you are an employee or a pensioner and the income (profit) is less than £2,500 a year you might not have to complete a tax return but it is still your responsibility to report such income by contacting HMRC. If you receive other untaxed income and the tax due on it cannot be collected via your PAYE coding notice you will need to complete a tax return;
• You receive regular annual income from a trust or settlement, or you receive income from the estate of a deceased person and further tax is due;
• You have foreign income on which UK tax is due (although there is an exclusion if your foreign income consists solely of dividends which will be covered by the dividend allowance).
• You are non-resident and you have taxable income in the UK. This includes non-UK resident landlords. You can find out more on GOV.UK;
• You have income from savings and investments of £10,000 or more before tax;
• You have annual income of £100,000 or more before tax;
• You or your partner receive child benefit and your adjusted net income is over £50,000. This is because of the high income child benefit charge;
• You are liable to certain other tax charges, such as on ‘excess’ Gift Aid contributions or pension contributions;
• You are liable to tax on a state pension lump sum which you deferred from before 6 April 2016;
• You incorrectly claimed coronavirus support payments which you have not already repaid to HMRC;
• You have tax due at the end of the year that cannot be collected via your PAYE coding notice in a later year;
• Your untaxed income is £2,500 or more – but if you are a pensioner you may be able to pay your tax through your PAYE Coding Notice;
• Your claims for expenses are £2,500 or more;
• You have capital gains where:
  • You have given away or sold assets worth £49,200 or more for 2022/23; or
  • You have a capital loss but your gains net of any losses are more than the annual exemption for 2022/23 of £12,300; or
  • You have no losses to claim but your gains are more than the annual exemption for 2022/23 of £12,300; or
  • You need to make any other capital gains tax claim or election for the year.

HMRC may also want you to complete a Self Assessment tax return for other reasons.

If you have capital gains which you have already reported to HMRC and you have no other reason to file a Self Assessment tax return for that year, you may not need to file a Self Assessment return just to report these gains again. See I do not normally complete a tax return. How do I report my gains?for more information. Note that if HMRC have sent you a tax return or a notice to complete one, then you must fill it in and return it by the due date unless there is a good reason you do not need to be in Self Assessment and HMRC agree to cancel it. See What do I do if I no longer need to complete a tax return? below.

There is a tool on GOV.UK to help you understand if you need to do a tax return.

Note that you if you dispose of UK residential property and you have capital gains tax to pay, then you must file a separate return within 60 days of the disposal (a 30-day deadline applies for disposals which complete on or before 27 October 2021). Similar rules apply if you are non-resident in the UK and you dispose of UK land or property, even if there is no capital gains tax to pay. See How and when do I report capital gains to HMRC and pay my CGT bill? for more information.

What are the important deadlines and dates for Self Assessment?

When we talk about dates for tax, often the date is said to be ‘during the tax year’ or ‘following the end of the tax year’. A UK tax year runs from 6 April to the following 5 April.

So, when we talk about the tax year 2022/23 it starts on 6 April 2022 and finishes on 5 April 2023. The 31 January during the tax year is 31 January 2023, the 5 October following the end of the tax year is 5 October 2023 and the 31 January following the end of the tax year is 31 January 2024.

Not all of the dates listed below may apply to you. You can follow the links that give you more information to help you decide if you need to take some action by that date.

What records do I need to keep?

There is a legal requirement for people in Self Assessment to keep records. If HMRC check your tax return, they may ask to see some of your records.

You can keep records on paper or digitally.

HMRC can charge you a penalty if your records are not complete and accurate.

In Self Assessment but not self-employed

If you submit your tax return on time, you should keep your records for at least 22 months after the end of the tax year. For example, you should keep records for your 2020/21 tax return until at least 31 January 2023.

If you submit your tax return late, you should keep your records for at least 15 months after you sent your tax return.

There is more information on record-keeping for Self Assessment on GOV.UK.

Self-employed

The normal rule for the self-employed and those letting property is to keep business records for at least five years from the 31 January submission deadline. For example, records for the 2020/21 tax return should be kept until 31 January 2027.

For more information on the records that you must keep visit our page What business records should I keep?. There is also more information on GOV.UK.

What do I do if I no longer need to complete a tax return?

If your circ*mstances have changed and you think you no longer need to complete a tax return, for example, because you pay all your tax under PAYE, let HMRC know as soon as possible. You can contact HMRC using the details on GOV.UK.

If you have already received a tax return for a year, HMRC might agree to cancel it, if you explain your circ*mstances to them over the telephone. If they agree to withdraw the return, you will no longer need to submit it and any penalties for missing the filing deadline will be cancelled.

If HMRC do not agree, however, they may ask you to complete the return and to tell them about the change in your circ*mstances in the Additional Information boxes.

They might also agree to cancel the tax return, but instead issue you with a Simple Assessment, if they think you have not paid enough tax.

If you have not received a notice to file a return for the year but think you might receive one, contact HMRC and let them know why you think you no longer need to complete a Self Assessment return – you might be in time to stop them issuing one.

If you normally file a tax return, any refund that you are due is automatically calculated as part of the tax return process. However, if you are no longer within Self Assessment, but still think you are due a refund, you may need to claim a repayment of tax each year. If you think this applies to you, take a look at How do I claim tax back?.

What if I have not completed a tax return previously?

Notification deadline

If you have not received a tax return but you had income or capital gains on the list above, you need to notify HMRC by 5 October following the end of the tax year in which you had the income, or you may face a penalty. HMRC will then send you a tax return to complete.

If you need to complete a tax return in respect of incorrectly claimed coronavirus support payments, then an earlier deadline applies.

There is information on how to register for Self Assessment on GOV.UK.

It is worth noting that if you notify HMRC after 5 October, provided you have paid your income tax liability in full by the usual 31 January payment deadline, HMRC should reduce the late-notification penalty to zero. Note in these circ*mstances that you should also make sure you file your tax return on time (see below). You can find out more on our penalties page.

Submission deadlines

If you have to file a Self Assessment tax return, you normally have:

• until 31 October to do so, if you choose to submit a paper tax return;
• or until the following 31 January if you file online.

This means you have an additional three months for online filing compared with paper.

HMRC take the date of the first return received by them and this also triggers any late filing penalty. For example, if you file a paper return for 2021/22 after 31 October 2022, you cannot avoid a late filing penalty by filing the return online before 31 January 2023.

When you first register for Self Assessment, you may need to consider the following submission deadlines too:

• If you want HMRC to calculate your tax –
  • If HMRC issue you with a tax return before 31 August, you have until 31 October to submit it on paper;
  • If HMRC send you a tax return to complete on or after 1 September, you have two months from the date of issue to complete and submit the paper form;
• If you are happy to calculate your own tax liability (if you submit online, the software will automatically calculate the tax due) –
  • If HMRC ask you to submit a tax return before 31 July, you must submit the return on or before 31 October (paper) or on or before 31 January (online);
  • If HMRC ask you to submit a Self Assessment tax return after 31 July but by 31 October, you must submit the return within three months of the date of the notice (for paper returns) or on or before 31 January (for online returns);
  • If HMRC ask you to submit a Self Assessment tax return after 31 October, you must submit the return (whether paper return or electronic) within the three months beginning with the date of the notice.

Examples

Alfie 1: not completed return previously: new sources of income

Alfie notified HMRC that he would need to complete a 2021/22 tax return on 17 September 2022. HMRC issued a return on 1 October 2022. Alfie needs to send the form to HMRC by 1 December 2022, that is, within two months of the date of issue of the return, if he wants HMRC to calculate his tax liability for him.

Alfie 2: submission date for return: calculating own tax

If Alfie is asked to send in a Self Assessment tax return after 31 July 2022 but before 31 October 2022 – let us say 1 September 2022 – he will have a period of three months beginning with the date of the notice to get the form to HMRC – so by 1 December 2022 if he is using a paper return or on or before 31 January 2023 if he is filing online.

If Alfie is sent a Self Assessment tax return after 31 October – the return, whether paper return or online filing, must be sent to HMRC within three months from the date of issue of the return. So, if he gets the notice to file on 1 December 2022 he must send the return in before 1 March 2023.

What is a short tax return?

If you receive Self Assessment returns and file on paper rather than online but have simple tax affairs, you may be able to receive the short tax return instead of the full Self Assessment tax return. For example, this might apply if, as an employee you are in receipt of employment income, self-employment profits and your turnover was below £85,000 (2021/22), and you have straightforward investment income, or a reasonably small amount of income from property.

The short tax return is four pages long and so is around one-third the size of an average Self Assessment tax return with supplementary pages. The guidance is also much shorter and simpler. There is no need to calculate the tax on the form, but there is a two-page simple calculation to give you a rough idea of your tax liability.

Filing dates are the same as for the full Self Assessment return.

The short tax return is normally issued automatically based on the information in the previous year's return. However, you need to tell HMRC if your circ*mstances change. There is a list of who is able to use the short tax return at the front of the guide notes, so that you can see if you still qualify.

You cannot download the short tax return. You can only use the short tax return if HMRC ask you to. If you are not issued with an actual tax return but instead you are sent a notice requiring you to complete a tax return, you can request that a short tax return be issued to you, if appropriate.

What is Simple Assessment?

HMRC introduced Simple Assessment for certain taxpayers with only a state pension for 2016/17.

Individuals in Simple Assessment do not have to submit a tax return to pay tax on the taxable part of their pension. Instead, HMRC send the individual a calculation of tax owed for the tax year (PA302). For more information, visit our page What is Simple Assessment?

Where can I find more information?

You can find more information on Self Assessment on our page Self Assessment: understanding the basics and in the self-employment section.

There is also information on who needs to complete a Self Assessment tax return on GOV.UK.

There is more information on how to reclaim tax if you do not need to complete a tax return in the How do I claim tax back? pages.