HMRC’s online service was used by 9.9 million people – meaning more than 92.5% of total returns were completed 
online.
There were 758,707 people who completed their return on the last day before the deadline and the most popular hour for customers to hit submit was from 4pm to 5pm on 31 January with 60,596 returns received (1010 per minute, 17 per second).
Thousands of people avoided any penalties at the last minute as 30,348 customers completed their returns from 11pm to 11:59pm on 31 January.
HMRC handled 195,260 calls over the course of the day with waiting times at around three minutes.
Anyone who missed the deadline for self assessments could be subject to penalties unless they can persuade HMRC that there was good reason for the delay. We’ve previously blogged on excuses that have been unsuccessfully tried.
Self Assessment facts and figures:
- 11,433,349 Self Assessment returns due
- 10,687,761 returns received by midnight on 31 January (93.5 % of total issued)
- Around 745,588 SA returns still outstanding
- 9,916,430 returns filed online (92.8%)
- 771,331 returns filed on paper (7.22 %)
- More than 4,852,744 returns received online in January 2018 (44.8 % of total received)
- 1,290,948 returns received on 30 and 31 January (26.6 % of total returns received in January)
- Busiest hour: 4pm to 5pm on 31 January – 60,596 returns received (1010 per minute; 17 per second)
- Payments transactions handled on 31 January – 389,849
The penalties for late tax returns are:
- an initial £100 fixed penalty, which applies even if there is no tax to pay, or if the tax due is paid on time;
- after three months, additional daily penalties of £10 per day, up to a maximum of £900;
- after six months, a further penalty of 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater; and
- after 12 months, another 5% or £300 charge, whichever is greater.
- There are also additional penalties for paying late of 5% of the tax unpaid at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months.
