After you finished that last minute Christmas shopping, wrapped up the presents and put them under the tree did you recline into your armchair with drink in hand, taking a deep breath and exhaling a sigh of relief?
Then when Christmas Day arrived and you got over the excitement of opening those gifts that Santa had delivered and overindulged on the turkey dinner, did you fall asleep in front of the television?
Boxing Day may have presented an opportunity for a family stroll to burn off the excesses of Christmas Day or to attend a sporting fixture perhaps?
Self Assessment Tax Returns
For thousands of people, however, the Christmas period provided an ideal opportunity to file their Self Assessment Tax Returns online ahead of the deadline of 31st January 2013. On Christmas Eve, 14,330 people filed their returns which was more than treble the number in 2011 – 4,115. Of those 14,330, 73 transmitted their returns between 11 p.m. and midnight, compared to 44 in 2011.
Bored of what television programming had to offer or an excuse to escape the in-laws for a few hours, 1,548 people took to filing their tax returns, a 40% increase on Christmas Day of last year, when 1,100 people filed online.
Then, on Boxing Day, 4,685 individuals decided to spend time at their computers and get the job of filing their tax return out of the way. This represents a 33% increase on Boxing Day 2011, when 3,512 people filed online.
It seems that tax return filing is becoming somewhat of a Christmas tradition although not one that you immediately associate with the festive period.
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