More than 6.36m taxpayers have submitted their tax return so far, but almost 5.65m who still need to complete their self assessment by 31 January, HMRC said. Missing the deadline is an expensive business with an initial late filing penalty of £100, which quickly rises as the months go by.

Reflecting previous years, thousands of people got a head start on their 2026 resolutions by filing their tax return over the New Year.

With less than a month to the 31 January deadline, 54,053 taxpayers chose to celebrate the arrival of 2026 by filing their tax return for the 2024-25 on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Extraordinarily, 342 people raced to file their tax return in the last hour before midnight on New Year’s Eve, making sure they were ready to celebrate the fireworks and sing Auld Lang Syne. But HMRC said 11am to 11.59am on NYE was ‘the most popular time to file over the two days’ with 3,927 returns completed.

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