The UK is a nation of last-minute procrastinators, hoping to sneak an eleventh-hour tax return under the wire. Almost half of people who need to do a self assessment tax return by the end of the month hadn’t got round to it by the start of 2026. And while there’s nothing wrong with being motivated by a deadline, it raises the risk of something going awry.

If you need to complete one, and haven’t got round to it yet, there are 10 last minute checks to do – to make sure you’ve dodged the key tax return traps.

1. Check you have access to the system first: Make sure you have your Unique Taxpayer Reference number and can access the Government Gateway right now. If you haven’t registered for self assessment, do it now, because your UTR will take up to 10 days to reach you by post. If you’ve not registered for the Gateway yet, it will take up to ten days for your activation code to get to you. If you’ve forgotten or lost any of these things, you can recover them.