This week's opinion: 27 January 2022

The self-assessment deadline date – 31 January – is almost upon us again and, despite the penalty easement (tinyurl.com/hmrcsapenw22), remains the most important date in the personal tax calendar. 

Had the ‘death of the tax return’ proposals from 2015 been followed through in anything like the original timescale, this 31 January would have been very different. As it is I can’t see us all being able to take holidays in January for some time to come.

It is tempting to think that the 31 January date has been with us forever and was on the tablets brought down from Mount Sinai. In fact it is relatively recent. For many years the nominal return time limit was 30 days from the date of issue, though in practice that was never enforced.

Indeed, the return itself was largely a redundant document – older readers will recall a time when virtually all of the boxes could be filled in with the magic letters ‘TBA’ – to be advised. Those were the days.

Indeed, looking through the older tax books on my shelves it is surprising what little emphasis they give to the tax return. Everything was done piecemeal with much of the running made by HMRC with estimated assessments. I doubt that many of us would want to go back to those days. But I make the point that there is nothing magical about 31 January: it is not hard-wired into our DNA. 

One thing I do know, however. Most people will always leave it to the last minute. Whether the deadline was three years, three months or heaven forbid, three weeks there will always be a final rush.