Time's almost up for UK tax deadline

UK INQ readers may have seen those annoying ads from the UK government when accessing their Hotmail messages giving a countdown to online Self-assessment. But beware.

The countdown is actually dated from the 31st January [2009] - the last day on which you can submit a self-assessment return online. The deadline for the paper version of filing was 31st October 2008.

There's a hidden catch, however. In order to submit an online return, it's necessary to have registered first. And in order to register, the UK government needs to send you a password through the post.

This process takes seven days. So logically the latest you could apply for the password would be 24th January. But it isn't, the government site says that those who want to file a return online must register by 21st January 2009.

If you don't file your return online in time you'll be charged a fixed penalty of £100.

This INQ hack has been caught out on this one because he was already registered with the same UK government site in order to file VAT returns online.

Unfortunately, it's only possible to file a self assessment return using the VAT ID if you want to self-assess yourself as some form of business such as a partnership or trust. But not as an individual. So it has been necessary to register again.

The INQ not sure what will happen if the government servers on hmrc.gov.uk fall over under the weight of late returns but at least there is a page warning about potential problem showing service availability here. µ