HMRC issues warning phone lines closed on self assessment deadline day as over three million taxpayers still need to submit tax returns and pay outstanding tax bills

The self assessment deadline is Saturday 31 January so it is essential to take action as soon as possible. There will be no HMRC phone helplines on deadline day so it is absolutely vital to resolve any complex questions before close of play on Friday.

HMRC phone lines will close at 6pm on Friday 30 January, as per normal working hours, with no accommodation for the Saturday filing deadline.

There will be no HMRC helplines available on 31 January, with lines not reopening until 8am on Monday morning.

HMRC stressed on the technical support page, ‘for full phone support, contact HMRC before Friday 30 January.’

While the helplines will be closed on deadline day, HMRC will offer webchat support through its Online Services Helpdesk on Saturday 31 January. For general enquiries about self assessment HMRC’s digital assistant webchat can be accessed directly at Ask HMRC online on gov.uk.

As the tax code gets increasingly complicated and many more people are dragged into self assessment, taxpayers are advised to seek advice from accountants and tax advisers if their financial situation is complicated to avoid the risk of making inadvertent errors on tax returns, which can lead to serious repercussions and potential inquiries into tax affairs by the taxman. There are also added complications this year with the mid-year change to capital gains tax (CGT) rates and of course requirement to notify crypto gains and losses in a highly turbulent trading market for cryptocurrency in the past year.

There are also immediate penalties for late filing and non payment of tax for 2024-25 by the deadline. While HMRC will consider excuses for missing the deadline, these are tightly monitored and ‘only those with a ‘reasonable excuse may avoid a penalty’ in the words of the tax authority.

But at this point, HMRC warned: ‘If taxpayers miss the 31 January deadline, they will face an automatic £100 penalty.

‘More than 11.5m customers successfully filed by the deadline last year and HMRC wants to help the 3.3m still outstanding this time around to do the same.’

With a nod to last week’s meltdown on phone lines, which saw a two and a half hour outage in the middle of the day when the service was overwhelmed, the reminder even said that ‘HMRC’s online services are available around the clock’.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s chief customer officer, said: ‘Don’t leave it until deadline day. Filing now will give you peace of mind that your tax return is completed and if you have tax to pay, you have a week to arrange payment.

Article by Sara White of Editor, Business & Accountancy Daily