As part of the Making Tax Digital programme, HMRC have announced that, from September 2017, some taxpayers will no longer be required to complete a tax return because HMRC will use data it already holds to calculate how much tax they owe.
Only taxpayers with very straightforward affairs will be removed from the self assessment tax return system. Instead, they will receive either a P800 or a PA302 from HMRC which is effectively a tax calculation showing their employment income, pension income, state benefits and bank savings interest. The taxpayer is responsible for checking that the information is correct. If anything is incorrect, they have 60 days to contact HMRC.
Taxpayers with more complex affairs will continue to complete self assessment tax returns, although HMRC promise that the system will be modernised in the future so that taxpayers will only be asked for information which HMRC cannot access automatically from other sources.