Register for Self Assessment by 5 October
It’s time to remind members of the public that they should register for Self Assessment by 5 October if they need to complete a tax return for the 2023 to 2024 tax year, and they’ve not done one before.
An online tool is available for people to check if they need to send a Self Assessment tax return and register on GOV.UK.
Anyone who has previously completed a Self Assessment return, but no longer needs to, should let us know, otherwise, they will continue to get reminders and may be charged a penalty for not submitting a tax return on time.
Guidance and support
Helpful guidance is available on YouTube that shows how to stop Self Assessment using our online services.
Information about registering, including the top five myths debunked about Self Assessment, is available on GOV.UK.
File paper Self Assessment returns by 31 October 2024
The deadline for filing paper 2023 to 2024 Self Assessment returns is midnight on 31 October 2024. Customers who file online have longer – until 31 January 2025.
Basis Period Reform – reporting on a tax year basis
Sole traders and partners in a business will have to report their profits on a tax year basis from April 2024, if they don’t do so already. This is known as Basis Period Reform.
Customers can reduce their reported profit if it covers more than 12 months using the Overlap Relief Figure. This is also called ‘transition profit’, and it can be spread over the following years, up to the tax year 2027 to 2028.
We have launched an online service for customers to request an Overlap Relief Figure on GOV.UK.
For more information, read about the changes to reporting income from self employment and partnerships on GOV.UK.
Anyone who is still awaiting an overlap relief figure at the Self Assessment filing deadline should file their return on time using provisional figures and amend it when the correct figure is received.
Further help with Basis Period Reform is available on GOV.UK.
Home Responsibilities Protection – check your State Pension is correct
Tens of thousands of people who claimed Child Benefit between 1978 and 2000 could be receiving too little in State Pension payments due to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) not being included on their National Insurance (NI) record.
It reduced the number of qualifying years a person with caring responsibilities needed to receive the full basic State Pension. HRP was replaced by National Insurance credits in 2010.
However, if someone claimed Child Benefit before May 2000 and did not provide their NI number on their claim, HRP might not have been included on their NI record. This could have resulted in them receiving a lower State Pension entitlement than they should have.
We are actively working with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to contact customers that might be affected, encouraging them to check their eligibility, and providing information on how to make a claim for missing HRP.
Guidance about how you can check to see if they’re eligible and how to make a claim is available on GOV.UK.
Further HRP stakeholder communications resources
We’ve worked with voluntary and community sector organisations on a Home Responsibilities Protection communication resources toolkit. This is available on GOV.UK.
We have also published a short video about HRP on social media which explains and signposts to further guidance.
These resources can be used by organisations to support individuals to check their eligibility and make a claim.
What an authorised agent can do on a client’s behalf
We have improved the letters we send to customers when they authorise an agent to act on their behalf.
The changes are designed to make it clearer to customers what actions an agent will be able to carry out for them, once authorisation is
complete. These reflect the changes previously made on GOV.UK.
The letter also makes clear that the customer remains responsible for their own tax affairs.
We have given agents’ professional bodies and agents advanced notice that we are doing this.