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Do you need to complete a tax return?

Even if you pay all your tax through PAYE, you may still need to complete a Self-Assessment tax return if you are a high earner. For 2022/23 and earlier tax years, this is the case if your income is more than £100,000. However, for 2023/24 onwards, the trigger threshold is increased to £150,000.

Unless you have to complete a self-assessment tax return for another reason, if you are taxed under PAYE and your income is between £100,000 and £150,000, you will need to file a tax return for 2022/23 but will not need to do so for 2023/24 onwards. You must file your 2022/23 tax return online by 31 January 2024. It is important that you do this, as HMRC will charge you a late filing penalty of £100 if you miss the deadline, even if you have no tax to pay.

Reasons you may need to file a return

Even if you are employed and your income is below the Self-Assessment trigger threshold, you may still need to file a Self-Assessment tax return. This could be because you also had income of more than £1,000 from self-employment or because you were a partner in a business partnership. You may also need to file a Self-Assessment tax return if:

• you receive income of more than £1,000 from renting out properties;
• you receive dividend income in excess of the dividend allowance;
• you receive interest that is taxable;
• you have foreign income to report;
• you realise chargeable gains in the tax year; or
• you are liable to pay the high-income child benefit charge.

Remember that the additional rate threshold has been reduced from £150,000 to £125,140 from 2023/24. If your income is between £125,140 and £150,000, you will no longer receive a personal savings allowance as this is only available to higher and basic rate taxpayers. The allowance is set at £500 for higher rate taxpayers. If you were previously entitled to the allowance and you received savings interest of less than £500, you would not have had to pay tax on that interest. However, if you are now an additional rate taxpayer, any savings interest (other than that in a tax-free wrapper such as an ISA) is taxable and you will need to report it to HMRC.

Telling HMRC

If you think that you no longer need to file a Self-Assessment return because your income is below the new threshold and you have nothing else to report, or if you have retired, you will need to tell HMRC. You can do this online, either using HMRC’s digital assistant or by completing an online form. You can also write to HMRC or tell them by phone (although it should be noted that the Self-Assessment helpline is temporarily closed until 4 September 2023).

04/07/2023