Done the deed

[UncleEbenezer]

Should it be £0, or £0.00, or nil, or not applicable, or a space mark, or no entry at all? (Some forms wanted one, while others would settle only for something else.)

THere's a field for tips/etc in the employment. I should imagine anyone outside a pretty limited range of occupations enters £0 in that one every year. And yes, the acceptable expression of £0 is indeed idiosyncratic and always needs a second try!

[Lootman]

I gather the accountants' associations and federations are pleading with HMRC to allow a bit of grace this year before they declare a tax return to be late/fine-able. The alleged cause, predictably, is Covid. It's not so much that the bug has knocked a lot of decent upstanding people into lala-land for months at a time, but rather that the accountants themselves have been struggling with Covid-related staff downtime, so they're sweating a bit about the 31st January deadline.

My own accountant says his team have had a pretty normal year, mainly working from home (as accountants can so easily do). But even so, I sent him my self-assessment info in mid-November, together with my negligibly small self-employed records, and he says he's unlikely to get round to doing my form till mid-January. Well, if he's late he can pay my fine himself. (As a previous company accountant once did.)

How much longer would the profession like to have before the HMRC axe falls on late presenters' necks? End of March would be nice, apparently. Yeah, right. Don't get your hopes up.

Yes, my accountant struggled this year as well, and it's a big firm with resources. It took them about 10 weeks to turn around my return, as opposed to 3 weeks normally. The reason they gave was that efficiencies are lost with people working from home. Some staff were also furloughed for a while.

It was also harder for me to compile the information needed as opposed to a normal year.

Taking both of those factors into account, I submitted my return in October whereas I normally would have it done with by late May or early June. More generally I am in the camp of getting it done as early as possible, and paying the full whack then as well, so I can forget about it for another year, and so that it is ratified earlier.

[johnhemming]

I am finding my accountants less responsive which probably arises from the effects of Covid although the person who does my tax return's daughter also had it recently. However, they previously have been very good and I am not stressed. There only remains a complex technical point to resolve and then it should all happen.

Just before Xmas I got authority from HMRC to use their new APIs (which they switched on last week) so I expect to use the new system in the next financial year. They can now handle all sorts of income apart from Covid grants.

[UncleEbenezer]

Turns out I hadn't done the deed. I thought I'd submitted it, but evidently I hadn't.

Discovered it when I wondered why I didn't seem to have the customary confirmation email. Returned to the service and submitted successfully, this time getting acknowledgement. Phew!

[madhatter]

Turns out I hadn't done the deed. I thought I'd submitted it, but evidently I hadn't.

Discovered it when I wondered why I didn't seem to have the customary confirmation email. Returned to the service and submitted successfully, this time getting acknowledgement. Phew!

I haven't had a confirmation email either, so I logged back on the HMRC site. It said I had successfully submitted the tax return, and I could find a tax calculation. but I wonder if the lack of confirmation means something more was required. I would have been more confident with the paper form.

[PinkDalek]

... submitting a tax return on Christmas day. I thought it an excellent suggestion, and I've just done the deed. ...

Although you didn't quite manage it on the day, seems like 2,700 did:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/2700-tax-returns-sent-in-on-christmas-day

20,200 "Customers" filed online on Christmas Eve!

[PinkDalek]

Turns out I hadn't done the deed. I thought I'd submitted it, but evidently I hadn't.

Discovered it when I wondered why I didn't seem to have the customary confirmation email. Returned to the service and submitted successfully, this time getting acknowledgement. Phew!

I haven't had a confirmation email either, so I logged back on the HMRC site. It said I had successfully submitted the tax return, and I could find a tax calculation. but I wonder if the lack of confirmation means something more was required. I would have been more confident with the paper form.

Not blocked or in Junk by any chance?

https://public-online.hmrc.gov.uk/information/faqs/selfAssessment?affinitygroup=&faqid=eng.faq.individuals.faq.faqpaye045

[88V8]

I send a paper return, so it's long done.
And I have my assessment. No teacher involved, nor even Teacher's.
I shall always send a paper return.
Paper. No electrikery required.
Long live paper.

V8

[madhatter]

Lots of stuff in Junk, though I can't see anything that looks like HMRC from about the date submitted. I did receive emails on the 3th Dec, for the short confirmation code and for the Government Gateway ID needed for the login.

Logging in gives me:

File a return menu
1. Welcome
2. Tell us about you
3. Tailor your return
4. Fill in your return
5. Check your return
6. View your calculation
7. Save your return
8. Submit your return
Provide feedback
Tax return options
How to pay

Fill in your return

Section skipped

!
Warning
You must complete the sections up to '4. Fill in your return' in order. After '4. Fill in your return' you can skip any section using the left hand navigation links.

1. Welcome

From 'Welcome' you can only navigate forward to '2. Tell us about you'. This is because we need details about you before we can create your tax return.

2. Tell us about you

From 'Tell us about you' you can only navigate forward to '3. Tailor your return'. This is because we need details about your income before we can create your tax return.
...

I have put the menu in blue, and since it seems I need to get to the Tell Us About You page from the Welcome page, I clicked on that, which is the page where I get the "The 2019 to 2020 tax return for ME was successfully submitted and was received by HM Revenue and Customs at 15:27 GMT on 29 December 2020."

But there is no link to get to the Tell Us About You page.

If I go to the View Your Calculation page it says they owe me £4!

[stockton]

Turns out I hadn't done the deed. I thought I'd submitted it, but evidently I hadn't.

Discovered it when I wondered why I didn't seem to have the customary confirmation email. Returned to the service and submitted successfully, this time getting acknowledgement. Phew!

That is interesting for the website does not appear to have any obvious point at which you could believe mistakenly that a return had been submitted.
I believe that I submitted my return and that it was acknowledged. However I received a penalty notice and had to write a letter pointing out some of the deficiencies of the website in order to persuade them to withdraw the penalty.