It has taken me until almost the end of January to decide what it is but my resolution this year will be to file my self-assessment tax return sooner than 7 days before the deadline!

At the start of January it was estimated that only 3.5 million of the 9.3 million required to complete their SA return had completed it so far. So I am certainly not in the minority! The fact is, I will get it completed before the deadline, but if previous years are anything to go on, over a million individuals will file their forms late, leading to penalties and and in most cases additional surcharges.

Professional advice website Unbiased.co.uk  estimate that people will hand over around £442 million to the tax man this year in fines for late returns, miscalculations and surcharges on unpaid tax from previous years.

There really is no reason to file it late. I certainly don’t want to be paying the tax man any more than I have to, so tonight is the night. I’m going to get on with it!

If you haven’t completed yours yet, then now is the time….7 days and counting!