Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HM Revenue and Customs has taken to reduce the number of people receiving inaccurate correspondence on the status of their tax return.

Each year HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) uses the information it holds on its customers to remove around 400,000 customers from the Self-Assessment (SA) process. Customers will receive a letter confirming they no longer need to complete an SA tax return.

HMRC contacts all customers who need to complete an SA tax return and offers support and advice on how to do this successfully to avoid penalties. Where a customer wishes to check whether an SA tax return is due they can check using the tool provided at www.gov.uk/check-if-you-need-a-tax-return. Tax returns issued will subsequently be withdrawn if a customer contacts HMRC to advise that their circumstances have changed and that a SA tax return is no longer required.

If an SA tax return has not been filed within 6 weeks of the filing and payment deadlines, customers will receive a reminder either through email or SMS.