How to deal with self-assessment tax returns after a very trying year

The Covid-19 pandemic will complicate the self-assessment tax return process for 2019-20. What if you can’t pay? Ruth Jackson-Kirby has some advice.

 © OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
Covid-19 has prompted HMRC to be lenient this year
(Image credit: © OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

The tax-return deadline of 31 January is looming, but millions of us still haven’t filed our self-assessment forms for the financial year between 6 April 2019 and 5 April 2020. And this year, thanks to the fallout from Covid-19, the process could prove particularly protracted.

“Each year about 11 million people have to complete a self-assessment tax return,” says Rupert Jones in The Guardian. “There were still 5.4 million taxpayers who hadn’t filed by 31 December 2019 and 5.5 million who were yet to file by 31 December 2018.”

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Ruth Jackson-Kirby

Ruth Jackson-Kirby is a freelance personal finance journalist with 17 years’ experience, writing about everything from savings accounts and credit cards to pensions, property and pet insurance.

Ruth started her career at MoneyWeek after graduating with an MA from the University of St Andrews, and she continues to contribute regular articles to our personal finance section. After leaving MoneyWeek she went on to become deputy editor of Moneywise before becoming a freelance journalist.

Ruth writes regularly for national publications including The Sunday Times, The Times, The Mail on Sunday and Good Housekeeping, among many other titles both online and offline.