342 people filed tax return in the last hour of 2025, says HMRC

More than 300 people spent the last hour of 2025 submitting their tax return, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures show.

Some 342 people filed their self-assessment tax return in the last hour of the year.

With less than a month to the January 31 deadline, 54,053 people saw in the new year by filing their tax return for 2024-25 over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Some 3,927 people filed their return between 11.00am and 11.59am on December 31 – the most popular time over the two days.

More than 6.36 million taxpayers have submitted their tax return and nearly 5.65 million still need to complete their self-assessment form before the deadline.

Those who miss the deadline could face an initial late filing penalty of £100, followed by possible further penalties. The £100 fixed penalty applies even if there is no tax to pay or if the tax due is paid on time.

Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s chief customer officer, said: “What better way than to ensure your tax affairs are in order for another year than completing your tax return.

“If you have yet to start, the clock is ticking, go to gov.uk and start today.”

HMRC said people can start their tax return, save it and revisit it as many times as they need to before they submit it. Once they have sent it, the bill does not have to be paid straight away, but does need to be paid before the January 31 deadline, the revenue body said.

People can set up notifications in the HMRC app to ensure they know when payments are due so they do not miss a deadline.

People who are unable to meet the deadline are being urged to tell HMRC before January 31. HMRC said it will treat those with reasonable excuses fairly.

Criminals may use the deadline to send out fake messages purporting to be from HMRC. The revenue body said people should never share their HMRC login details with anyone.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, suggested people should consider what their tax return has revealed about their finances.

She said: “If you spent ages digging out details of interest payments, dividends or profits on share sales, consider consolidating to simplify things.”