Self Assesment Due Date

stedders

Apologies if this is a stupid question, I am a newbie at doing Self Assessments.

I was asked to do a Self-Assessment for 2010/2011 in December; I completed it in early Jan but am somewhat confused about the payment date.

All the FAQ's documentation I can find online indicates that payment has to be made by the 31st Jan 2012, except in the section on the deadline for submitting the return which indicates that if you receive the request after 31st Oct then there is a bit of an extended period.

On my SA Current Position page it says that my due date is the 29th March 2012 (can't upload screenshot).

Can I read from this as meaning that I need to pay my tax bill by the 29th March?

I am worried about getting fined, I can just about pay it this month but it would be a lot easier to pay next month.

Thanks in advance for any advice/guidance.
Stedders

MrsNut

You have to be given 3 months to complete your return - from your post, it appears that the return was not issued until December - hence the 'due date for submission of the return' is 29th March.

However, the tax is still due to be paid on 31st January.

If you know how much you need to pay, and can do so, you should pay this amount by 31st January. If you can't pay it all, pay as much as you can.

Any tax due but not paid by 31st January will attract interest from 1st february until the date it is paid.

Any tax unpaid at 28th February will attract a surcharge of 5% of the amount unpaid.

If this is your first SA return, you need to know:

The return you are submitting is for the 2010-11 year.

However, on 31st January you should also be paying your first payment on account (POA) for the 2011-12 year. This will automatically be calculated as half the tax bill for the previous year (although you can ask to reduce this - but see other threads for the dangers of this, I don't want to muddle you on this thread).

Any amount of your 2011-12 POA which is unpaid on 31st January will also attract interest/surcharges in the same way as the amount due for 2010-11.

The upshot is - pay as much as you can by 31st January to reduce interest payable

Pay it all by 28th February to avoid a 5% surcharge

BoGoF

Unless yours was a failure to notify case the due date for payment will be 3 months and 7 days from the date the tax return was issued. So the 29th March seems correct and if your statement says that then that is when it needs to be paid by.

agrinnall

I think MrsNut may have gone a bit over the top, if your tax affairs are straightforward (e.g. PAYE plus some extra payment due on savings or BIK) then there's not much chance of having to make payments on account. I'd go with what BoGoF says and not worry too much.