The government are gradually phasing out the self-assessment tax return and replacing it with an individual tax account pre-populated with data supplied by employers, pension companies and State Pension figures from DWP.

With effect from April 2017, HMRC will have the power to assess income tax or CGT liabilities using information they already hold. This new system will be called “Simple Assessment” and will initially apply to two groups:

Firstly, new state pensioners with income more than the personal tax allowance in the tax year 2016/17.

Secondly, PAYE customers, who have underpaid tax and who cannot have that tax collected through their tax code.

Taxpayers will have 60 days in which to challenge incorrect information in a simple assessment.

We have concerns about the accuracy of this data so please contact us if you drop out of self-assessment and would like us to check the HMRC figures in future.