People are doing their tax returns on Christmas Day

Ho, Ho, NO! Forget turkey and presents – hundreds of people in the South West will spend the festive season filing their tax return.

Some 129 people in the region took a break from the festivities to go online on December 25, 2018, and submit their self-assessment tax return, according to figures from HMRC.

The number of people popping online to sort out profits, losses and tax-free allowances instead of watching the Christmas TV lineup is falling, having stood at 140 on Christmas Day 2015.

People in the South West were also less likely to submit their tax return on Christmas Day than people across the UK as a whole. People here submitted returns at a rate of 2.8 per 100,000 adults, compared to 4.6 per 100,000 for the nation as a whole.

Those in the South West were also less likely to skip the turkey leftovers on Boxing Day to fill in their tax return.  There were 640 returns submitted on December 26 last year, or 13.9 per 100,000 people.

That was up from 430 submitted in 2015, but still below the UK rate of 15.0 per 100,000.

New Year is even more popular for getting your taxes in order – possibly due to the impending January 31 deadline for online returns and resolutions to be more organised.

There were 3,021 people in the region who submitted their tax return on New Year’s Eve last year. This was up from 2,330 in 2015, and a big jump from 1,780 in 2017.  A further 1,684 tax returns were submitted on January 1 this year.

This number is also on the rise, up from 1,680 in 2018, 1,380 in 2017, and 1,180 in 2016. Across the UK, 2,487 people submitted their tax return on December 25 last year.  This was down from 2,540 in 2017, but up from 1,870 in 2016 and 2,000 in 2015.

There were 8,079 people who filed their tax return on Boxing Day last year – up from 7,550 in 2017, 6,040 in 2016 and 5,300 in 2015.  Londoners were the most likely to forsake the Christmas and Boxing Day festivities in favour of their tax return.

As well as this, 32,566 people across the UK used New Year’s Eve last year to file their tax return.

The number of self-assessment tax returns coming back on the last day of the year has almost doubled in a year, from 16,810 in 2017.
A further 16,867 people filed theirs on New Year’s Day – up slightly from 16,810 in 2018.

People in the South East were the most likely to be filling in their tax returns over New Year. The figures are based on the number of returns received on each date.

These are most likely to be online returns – as the deadline for paper returns is October 31, and because Royal Mail doesn’t deliver post on any of the days.

The deadline for filing an online tax return for the tax year 2018/19 is midnight on January 31, 2020.

Those who are eligible and wish HMRC to collect any owed tax via their wages and pension must file online by December 30, otherwise all owed tax must be paid by January 31.

The penalty for sending in a tax return late of £100 for those that are up to three months late, and more if it’s even later than that.