Updating your tax return

There are special rules to follow if you have submitted a Self-Assessment return and subsequently realise you need to change it. For example, this can happen if you made a mistake like entering a number incorrectly or missed information from the return.

If you filed your return online, you could amend your return online as follows:

1. Sign in to your personal tax account using your Government Gateway user ID and password.
2. From ‘Your tax account’, choose ’Self-Assessment account’ (if you do not see this, skip this step).
3. Choose ‘More Self-Assessment details’.
4. Choose ‘At a glance’ from the left-hand menu.
5. Choose ‘Tax Return options’.
6. Choose the tax year for the year you want to amend.
7. Go into the tax return, make the corrections and file it again.

You must wait three days (72 hours) after filing before updating your return. If you opted to file your return on paper, you will need to download a new return and fill in the pages that you wish to change and write ‘amendment’ on each page. You must also include your name and Unique Taxpayer Reference on each page and then send the corrected pages to the address where you sent your original return.

If you used commercial software to submit your Self-Assessment return, then you should contact your software provider in the first instance. If your software provide cannot help, then you should contact HMRC.

The deadline for making changes for the 2021-22 tax year using any of the methods outlined above is 31 January 2024. If you have missed the deadline, you will need to write to HMRC instead. For example, if you found a mistake in your 2020-21 return after 31 January 2023. In the letter, you will need to say which tax year you are correcting, why you think you have paid too much or too little tax and by how much. You can claim a refund up to four years after the end of the tax year it relates to.