By 30th January 2012, HMRC said it had received 7,002,748 self assessment tax returns via online filing, compared to 6,334,956 the previous year.
The busiest day for electronic filing however was 31st January when the Revenue received 445,000, 37,460 of which were filed in the rush hour between 16:00 – 17:00. Last year 600,000 people filed their tax returns on the actual deadline day but because of a shortage of call centre staff that number fell this year.
Over 200,000 people took advantage of the extension to the filing deadline, with 87,000 tax returns filed on 1st February and another 120,000 the next day.
In total, 9.45 million 2011 self assessment tax returns were filed on time, representing 90% of all returns. The remaining 10%, approximately 1 million people, will face the £100 automatic fine for late filing.
David Gauke, exchequer secretary to the Treasury said that the record number of people electronically filing their tax returns this year indicated that it was “quick, easy and secure to do”. Not everyone found it easy however, with common errors being mistaking the HMRC web page calculating tax due for the year for confirmation of tax return submission, and using punctuation or pressing the “return” key when entering information about their pension provider, causing an error message.
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