Tax terror

I apologise. I am about to pour icy water all over your Christmas preperations, destroy your festive cheer and make you weep into your mince pies. And all I have to do is mention two little words - self-assessment. Yes, the 31 January deadline is approaching. 

HM Revenue & Customs are urging tax-payers who want to file online to get in early, to avoid "heavy web traffic". No matter how many good intentions we have, most of us leave our tax returns until the last minute. More than 100,000 tax returns were filed online in the weekend before the deadline fell last year.

The Revenue have got a point about the ease of online self-assessment, especially for late payers.  Last year I passed my local tax office on 31 January, and goggled at the queues snaking down the road, three blocks long. Harrassed Revenue officials attempted to deal with the crowds, doubtless astonished to find themselves so popular for once. It was tax mayhem.

If you're going to file your returns at the last minute, it's a lot easier to do it from the comfort of your computer desk. It takes a while to get a password from the HRMC site, however, so if even if you're planning on burying your head in the turkey until after Christmas, it's worth signing up now.

Returns that aren't in by the deadline face a £100 penalty, and interest is charged on any outstanding tax due. Last year almost a million penalty notices were issued to taxpayers who failed to file before the 31 January deadline. If you don't want to contribute to Gordon Brown's £100 million bonus from late filing, I'd log on now.