If you are a self-employed worker who completes the forms ahead of the 31 January 2026 deadline and are owed tax, being punctual means you can receive a rebate sooner than if it was left to the last minute.
There are still 10 months left to complete a tax return for 2024/25 for the period between 6 April 2024 and 5 April 2025.
However, more taxpayers are opting to complete the form with plenty of time to spare.
There were 28,503 more Brits who completed the form between 6 and 12 April 2025 than in the first week of the previous tax year, according to HMRC. But fewer people chose to do so on the opening day than before. Meanwhile, 57,815 even filed the return on the first possible day of Sunday 6 May.
At the other end of the scale, one million taxpayers missed the self-assessment deadline for 2023/24 and picked up a £100 fine in the process.
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If you complete the form even later, a £100 penalty is added for every day the form is late, up to a maximum of 90 days. The fines continue to increase after three months, six months and then 12 months as the greater value of 5% of your tax or £300 is charged after each period.
‘Grow your business and do the things you love’
Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s director general for customer services, said: “Filing your self-assessment early means you can spend more time growing your business and doing the things you love, rather than worrying about your tax return.
“You too can join the thousands of customers who have already done their tax return for the 2024 to 2025 tax year by searching ‘self assessment’ on Gov.uk and get started today.”
HMRC has reminded people to check if they are eligible to pay tax for 2024/25.
This will apply if you:
- Are newly self-employed with a total income over £1,000
- Are self-employed and earn below £1,000 and wish to have Class 2 National Insurance contributions treated as paid
- Have received any untaxed income over £2,500
- Are renting out one or more properties
- Claim Child Benefit and you or your partner have an income above £60,000
- Are a partner in a business partnership
- Have taxable income earned from savings and investments of more than £10,000
- Have dividend income of more than £10,000
- Have capital gains tax to pay on assets that were sold for a profit above the capital gains threshold
