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When you think of fun Christmas activities, pantomimes or parties might spring to mind. It’s a fairly niche group of people who rub their hands in glee at the thought of doing their tax return. And yet last year, over the three-day festive period, 25,769 people sent it off to the taxman.
The peak time was between 12.00 and 12.59 on Boxing Day, when families round the country were sitting down to leftovers, 1,121 people sneaked off to send their form in. In total on Boxing Day, 12,136 self assessment tax returns were submitted. Christmas Day was marginally less popular, but 4,757 people turned in their tax returns.
And while the idea of cracking open the HMRC website on the big day may make you feel queasy, there’s nothing stopping you from enjoying the same smug feeling throughout the festive period by getting it out of the way before the parties start.
It also means you have more time to get organised, and a better chance of avoiding any mistakes. In fact, there are six good reasons for a festive tax return.
1. You have longer to plan how you’ll pay
The earlier you do it, the longer you have to work out how to pay.
Read more: 10 ways to save money driving home for Christmas
As long as you file the paperwork within 60 days of the deadline (and as long as you don’t owe more than £30,000), you can use a time-to-pay arrangement to spread the cost. You’ll be charged interest, and at the moment it’s at 7.25%, but that’s still far cheaper than falling into an overdraft or running up credit card debts.
2. If you don’t actually need to file, you can withdraw
If your circumstances have changed and you don’t need to file a tax return, you need to act now and let HMRC know, so they can issue a withdrawal notice before the end of January. If you leave it to the deadline, you’ll have to do a tax return anyway to avoid a fine.
3. You can speed up refunds
If HMRC owes you money, you can make a claim and your refund can be processed straight away. You don’t have to wait for the deadline at the end of January to get your hands on your money.
4. You can do some tax planning before you file
In most cases, anything you do now will affect the following year’s tax return, but there are few "carry back" opportunities, where you can act now and cut your bill for the year you’re filing a return for.
So, for example, if you give money to charity using gift aid, the charity will reclaim basic rate tax, but higher and additional rate taxpayers should claim the difference through their tax return. You can carry back this claim. It means you can make a donation now, and include it in the tax return you’re filing, so you get the money faster.