RSS feedsA spokesman would not say whether the figure was meeting targets, but added that with 6.8 million returns received so far, the taxman was 'ahead of last year'.
Approximately nine and a half million people are due to file their self-assessment returns by 31 January. With the deadline falling midnight on Saturday, taxpayers will have to submit their returns by this Friday to best avoid being penalised with an automatic £100 fine. Last year, the Revenue was looking at a £90m windfall after almost 900,000 taxpayers missed the deadline.
The number of people choosing to file online has also witnessed a sharp increase to more than 500,000, compared with 324,710 at the same time last year.
Sir Nick Montagu, chairman of the Revenue, urged taxpayers to submit forms by the end of September if they wanted the department to calculate tax owed. 'Get your forms in on 30 September and save on all those accountants' fees,' he said.
Montagu told the public accounts committee that from this year the Revenue would have the ability to 'pre-populate' online forms with taxpayers' information. 'Pre-populating forms is - quite rightly - all the rage,' he said.
