Martin Lewis warns millions are days away from a HMRC fine

The Martin Lewis Money Show star is urging UK households to take action if they are due to fill out a self-assessment tax return for the past financial year.

Martin Lewis has warned millions are just days away from a HMRC fine. The ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show star is urging UK households to take action if they are due to fill out a self-assessment tax return for the past financial year.

Speaking on the ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show, which aired a mortgage and housing special this week, Mr Lewis said: “Tax self assessment deadline is the 31st of January. You have to do two things: one, if you’ve got a self assessment form you need to file it by the 31st of January or you will be fined £100.

“Two, you need to pay your tax before then. Don’t leave it to the last minute, HMRC phone and web traffic is very busy already, you don’t want to be panicking and not able to get through in a couple of days, you want to be panicking and not able to get through now, which is what will probably happen.

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“And this is important: if you don’t pay the tax owed in time you’ll start to accrue interest at 7.75% annual rate accrued daily.” Mr Lewis, the Money Saving Expert founder, also warned that if you’ve got yourself in a muddle and you won’t be ready in time, the next best course of action is to guess.

He continued: “My big tip to you: if you’ve not done it pay soft. What do I mean by that? Pay soft, I mean, if you’re pulling your hair out going I’m never gonna get this done in time, I don’t know what’s going on, take a guess at what tax you owe and pay them the tax.

“Yeah you’ll get the £100 fine for not filing but if you pay them say £10,000 and you owe £12,000, you would only pay the interest on the £2,000 difference. So just pay them what you roughly think you owe and you will minimise the interest penalty you think you’ll get.”