Insider January 2022

HMRC ISSUES LAST REMINDER FOR 2020/21 PERSONAL TAX RETURNS.

HMRC is reminding taxpayers that the deadline to submit 2020/21 personal tax returns through self-assessment is on or before midnight on 31 January 2022.

Some 407,510 startups were created during the 2020/21 tax year, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic.

Those who are unincorporated require a unique taxpayer (UTR) code to file their first tax returns via self-assessment for the 2020/21 tax year.

But the tax authority is experiencing long delays in processing requests for the 10-digit UTR codes, according to The Times.

Taxpayers usually get these within 10 days of signing up for self-assessment, the deadline for which is 5 October. If they have not received their UTR code by 31 January 2022, they will not incur an instant £100 late-filing penalty for missing that self-assessment registration deadline.

Instead, they will have three months to submit their tax returns from the date their self-assessment record is set up.

Payment of any tax due should still be made by 31 January 2022 to avoid interest charges, and by 2 March 2022 to avoid a 5% late-payment penalty.

It’s possible to do this without referring to a UTR number by using a National Insurance number.

Last year, 10.7 million taxpayers filed their personal tax returns for 2019/20 before the usual deadline – around 400,000 down on the previous year.

Read more on the Insider January 2022 here.