Who needs to file a tax return?

Most people in the UK do not need to file a tax return because any taxable income they have is taxed through a system called PAYE (paye as you earn).

However, there are a few situations where you’ll be required to complete a Self Assessment, also known as a personal tax return. Read more to find out what these situations are.

1. If you have any untaxed income

Here are some situations where you may need to declare your income to HMRC, depending on how much you’ve made.

• You’re self-employed and earned more than £1,000
• You earn rental income
• If you made profit from investments – usually property or stocks; gains from shares in an ISA don’t count. You’ll have to use HMRC’s Real Time Capital Gains Tax Service if you sell property instead of filing a tax return
• You earned savings interest – also not from savings within a cash ISA
• You received dividends – also not from a stocks & shares ISA
• You’re earning foreign income
• You have any other sort of untaxed income more than £1,000

2. You want to claim a tax refund

In some cases, you may have to submit a tax return to claim a refund if you’ve paid too much income tax. Here are some examples:

• You work in the construction industry through the CIS scheme
• You’ve made investments in SEIS or EIS eligible startups or VCT funds
• You’ve made donations to charity
• You made private pension contributions as a higher rate taxpayer
• You had work expenses over £1,000

3. HMRC tells you to submit one

Sometimes HMRC may decide you need to file a tax return. They’ll usually let you know by:

• Sending you a P800 form
• Sending you a notice to file a tax return

This could be for any reason, but some of the most common reasons are:

• You didn’t de-register from self assessment so HMRC are still expecting a tax return from you
• You’ve paid too little tax 
• You have any untaxed income that cannot be collected through PAYE

4. You qualify for benefits

In some cases, you may have to file a Self Assessment tax return if you quality for benefits, i.e:

• You need to prove you’re self-employed to claim Maternity Allowance or Tax-Free Childcare

5. Other situations

• You live abroad and had income from the UK
• You claimed Child Benefit and your or your partner’s income was over £60,000 (this is called high income child benefit charge)
• You’re in a partnership
• You are a minister of any religion
• You are a trustee

You’re a ’name’ at the Lloyd’s of London

I’m a director of a limited company – do I still need to file a personal tax return?

In this case, you’ll only need to complete a tax return if you paid yourself dividends over £10,000.

Otherwise, you’re no longer required to file a personal tax return.

However, you still need to make sure that your company submits a corporate tax return.