Martin Lewis issues warning over £100 fine ahead of HMRC deadline this month
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Martin Lewis has issued a warning ahead of a major HMRC deadline this month. The Money Saving Expert (MSE) website founder shared the warning in a post to X - formerly Twitter - last week. The upcoming self-assessment tax deadline is this month on January 31, and Martin warned that Brits shouldn't miss it as they could risk a £100 fine - even if the "taxman hasn't been in touch.".
Martin shared a post by HMRC to his followers, which read: "Even if we haven't been in touch, you may need to do a tax return if you have earned more than £1,000 through a side hustle, are a self-employed delivery driver or rider, rent out a property, or create online content.".
Alongside this, Martin shared his daily poll which asked: "Today's Poll: Have you filed your 2023/24 self assessment tax return yet (if you have to do one)? The deadline's 31 Jan, miss it and its £100 fine 7.25 per cent interest on unpaid amount. PS You usually only need do it if told to by HMRC plus some high earners, high savings interest, or earnt £50k+ and claimed child benefit.".
The result of this poll showed that 48% of the 18,007 respondents did not need to submit a self-assessment tax return this year. Overall, 22.5% said they did need to but "did it ages ago" and 11.6% said they had done so in the "last few weeks". However, 17.9% of respondents said they needed to but had not yet done so.
This year's deadline is for the 2023-24 tax year, and if you miss it, you could face a late filing penalty of £100. This 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 are added, up to a maximum of £900.
