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For a long time, high earners were required to file a tax return and report their earnings to HMRC, even if you were only PAYE employees. But in the past few years, there have been some changes. So, are high earner tax returns still a thing? And will you need to file in January 2026?
Sneak preview: probably not.
There’s a difference between being employed and self-employed. Usually, when you’re employed, you work for a company or organisation which pays you a salary and deducts any tax you owe HMRC before you receive it.
If you’re self-employed, you don’t pay tax on the income you earn and need to report it to HMRC and pay tax via a Self Assessment tax return.
You can be both employed and self-employed.
HMRC have been going through it… or it seems they have been, considering the changes they’ve been making in regard to high earner tax returns.
The rule previously was that anyone earning a PAYE income over £100,000 had to file a tax return. Yep… even if tax is taken out of your pay before you receive it.
Then, they announced that for the 2023/2024 tax year that this was no longer the case. Instead, they increased the threshold to people earning over £150,000. So, those of you who earned £150,000 or more in the 23/24 tax year, you’ll still need to file a Self Assessment tax return in January 2025.
If you’re not sure whether or not you’ll have to file, what better way to ensure a sense of security than talking through it with a tax professional?
Book a 1-1, 30 minute tax advice consultation with an accredited accountant for a low, fixed price.
Alas, that was not enough of a change for HMRC. Now, for the 2024/2025 tax year if you’re a high earner and only earning income from your PAYE job, there is no threshold to file. Therefore, you will no longer need to file a tax return. Hooray, less paperwork for you!
Ah, the caveat. Whether you’re a high earner or not, if you earn income from self-employment, then you probably will still need to file a tax return. As a high earner, you already exceed the £12,570 Personal Tax Allowance 2024/25.
So, who needs to file? People like you (high earners) who are also landlords, investors, or those that have lucrative side hustles or unreported income.
Use our employed/self-employed tax calculator👇 to figure out if you’ll owe any tax to HMRC. If you do, you’ll need to file a tax return 😱
As an employee, your employer calculates and deducts Income Tax and National Insurance contributions for you.
But because you’ve earned over £1,000 from self-employment, you need to submit a Self Assessment tax return to pay Income Tax and National Insurance on your earnings.
These are all deducted from your salary by your employer every month.
You pay no Income Tax on the first £12,570 that you make.
You pay £5,486 (20%) on your salary between £12,570 and £40,000.
You pay no NI contributions on the first £12,570 that you make.
You pay£2,194 (8%) on your salary between £12,570 and £27,430
That’s not all. Your employer is also required to pay separate NI contributions, but these won’t come out of your wages. In your case they would need to pay an extra £3,785 – you should see these on your payslip.
You will need to submit a Self Assessment tax return and pay these taxes and contributions yourself. The deadline is January 31st of the following year.
You pay £2,054 (20%) on your self-employment income between £0 and £10,270.
You pay £7,092 (40%) on your self-employment income between £10,270 and £28,000.
You will also have to pay £616 (6%) on £10,270 of your self-employment income.
You will have to pay an additional £355 (2%) on another £17,730 of your self-employment income.
You need to save
to pay your £10,116.80 tax bill by 31/1/2026 which is in 666 days
If you don’t earn more than £1,000 from self-employment, you don’t need to file a tax return. Instead, you can claim the Trading Allowance. You’ll need to report anything over £1,000 to HMRC, whether you owe tax or not.
Other tax reliefs or allowances that you could claim within the 24/25 tax year:
Remember, if earn more than any of the tax-free allowance thresholds or want to claim tax relief, you’ll need to file a Self Assessment tax return to do so. Plus, you’ll probably owe tax and you definitely don’t want to be on the wrong side of HMRC.
But you can try – just use TaxScouts’ Self Assessment tax return service. We’ll match you with an accredited accountant who will handle it all.
Just upload your documents, answer a few questions and you’re good to go! All for a low, one-off, fixed price.
| £100k+ from an annual salary | ❌ |
| £100k from an annual salary, plus rental income | ✅ |
| £30k from an annual salary, plus £2k from self-employment | ✅ |
| £100k+ from rental income and freelancing work | ✅ |
| £100k+ from an annual salary and £800 in capital gains | ❌ |
| £100k+ from an annual salary and £10,000 in capital gains | ✅ |
| £100k+ from an annual salary and £650 in dividends | ✅ |
| £100k+ from an annual salary and any interest from savings (unless HMRC change your tax code automatically) | ✅ |
You’ll only need to file a tax return for the 2024/2025 tax year if you earn multiple streams of income as a high earner. Your tax return will be due on 31 January 2026.
Essentially, if you owe tax you’ll need to file a tax return to HMRC, no matter your income. The easiest way to file is to use our tax return service – shameless plug – so you can continue with your life without worrying about tax.
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