Did you submit your self-assessment tax return on time? Plus, salary sacrifices schemes – we give you the low down
Did you manage to submit your self-assessment tax return before 31st January? If you didn’t, you weren’t alone! But be sure to submit asap in order to reduce the penalty fee. Also, we guide you through salary sacrifice schemes in a bid to keep costs as affordable as possible.
One Million Miss the Tax Return Filing Deadline
HMRC has estimated that around a million people missed the 31 January 2026 Self Assessment tax return filing deadline.
It confirmed that 11.48 million people filed their tax return on time, with most people filing online.
As usual, there was a significant rush on deadline day itself with nearly half a million people filing on 31 January, including more than 27,000 in the final hour before midnight. The busiest hour was between 5 pm and 6 pm, when almost 33,000 returns were submitted.
Despite this, it seems that a million people missed the deadline altogether.
If you missed the deadline
Anyone who still needs to file should do so as soon as possible. HMRC applies a fixed £100 late filing penalty immediately, even if no tax is owed.
Further penalties apply the longer the return is outstanding:
- After three months: £10 per day (up to £900).
- After six months: 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is higher.
- After 12 months: another 5% or £300.
There are also penalties for paying tax late – 5% of anything unpaid at 30 days, six months and 12 months – plus interest.
If you need help filing your tax return, please get in touch. We would be happy to help you.
What’s coming next
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax will start from April 2026 for many sole traders and landlords.
From 6 April 2026, Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax becomes mandatory for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000.
MTD involves keeping digital records and sending quarterly updates to HMRC.
If you need help getting ready for MTD, please get in touch. We can help you with all aspects of MTD, including choosing suitable software, bookkeeping and submitting the quarterly updates and end of year return.
See: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/1148-million-beat-the-self-assessment-deadline
Salary Sacrifice: Tax Efficient Options for Employers and Employees
With costs rising, many employers and employees are looking for practical ways to reduce outgoings without cutting benefits. Salary sacrifice can be an excellent tool to do this, but many businesses overlook it.
In short, salary sacrifice lets an employee give up part of their gross salary in exchange for a benefit such as a pension contribution, an electric car or a bike. Because the exchange happens before tax and National Insurance (NI), both sides can save money while staff gain a more attractive package.
A proposed cap on National Insurance relief for pension contributions received heavy publicity after the Autumn Budget 2025 announcement. However, the cap will not come into force until 6 April 2029. Until then, the advantages existing under the current rules remain available.
For employers, salary sacrifice can be an effective way to enhance benefits, improve recruitment and retention, and reduce tax costs. For employees, it can make benefits they value more affordable at a time when cash flow really matters.
If you want to understand how the numbers stack up for your business, we would be happy to help you calculate and compare the tax and NI position and show you exactly how salary sacrifice could work in practice for you and your team.
New Fuel Finder Scheme Helps Petrol and Diesel Price Comparison
Drivers can now compare fuel prices from every petrol station in the UK, thanks to a new government scheme designed to make fuel costs more transparent and to encourage greater competition between forecourts.
Beginning last week, every garage and fuel station must report its petrol and diesel prices to a central government database within 30 minutes of changing them. This data is then made available to apps and websites that motorists can use.
This means that apps such as PetrolPrices, Waze, MyRAC, and the AA app, as well as some in-car navigation systems and online map services can now pull in up‑to‑date pricing.
Motoring groups say that there can be differences of up to 20p per litre depending on where in the country petrol or diesel is bought. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also observed that fuel retail prices tend to “rise like a rocket but fall like a feather.”
If your business involves regular car travel, this could be a simple way to help keep your fuel costs down.