Students: What is Self Assessment

If you work for yourself you are self-employed. You will use the Self Assessment system to tell us about your income in the tax year by filling in a tax return. A tax year runs from the 6 April to 5 April in the following year. The system makes you responsible for paying the right amount of tax.

Everyone who is self-employed has to complete a tax return. We will send you a tax return every year - usually in April. You have until 30 September (if you would like us to calculate your tax) to complete the return and submit it to your Tax Office. However, if you want to calculate your own tax, you have until 31 January to submit your return.

Either way, you must send in your tax return by 31 January or you will be charged a penalty of £100. We will charge you another penalty of £100 if your return is still not back by 31 July.

Once we have calculated your tax bill, we will send you a Statement of Account letting you know how much you need to pay and when your payments should be. You will usually pay your year's bill in two halves: on 31 January and 31 July.

You are now able to complete and send back your current year's tax return over the Internet. This is a convenient way for you to get an automatic calculation and a repayment quickly, if you have overpaid.