There is now less than 1 months to the self-assessment filing deadline for submissions of the 2024-25 tax returns. We urge our readers who have not yet completed and filed their 2024-25 tax return to file as soon as possible to avoid the stress of last-minute preparations as the 31 January 2026 deadline fast approaches.

You should also be aware that payment of any tax due should also be made by this date. This includes the remaining self-assessment balance for the 2024-25 tax year, and the first payment on account for the 2025-26 tax year.

Earlier this year, more than 11.5 million people submitted their 2023-24 self-assessment tax returns by the 31 January deadline. This included 732,498 taxpayers who left their filing until the final day and almost 31,442 that filed in the last hour (between 23:00 and 23:59) before the deadline!

There is a new digital PAYE service for the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC). This allows Child Benefit claimants who previously used self-assessment solely to pay the charge to opt out and instead pay it through their tax code.

If you are filing online for the first time you should ensure that you register to use HMRC’s self-assessment online service as soon as possible. Once registered an activation code will be sent by mail. This process can take up to 10 working days. 

If you miss the filing deadline you will be charged a £100 fixed penalty (unless you have a reasonable excuse) which applies even if there is no tax to pay, or if the tax due is paid on time. There are further penalties for late tax returns still outstanding 3 months, 6 months and 12 months after the deadline. There are additional penalties for late payment of tax amounting to 5% of the tax unpaid at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months.

VAT road fuel scale charges are fixed, standardised amounts that businesses must use to account for output VAT when they provide fuel for private use in a vehicle that is also used for business purposes.

The VAT road fuel scale charges are published annually with the current figures applying from 1 May 2025 to 30 April 2026. The fuel scale rates are designed to encourage the use of cars with low CO2 emissions.

A business can use the VAT fuel scale charges to work how much VAT they need to pay back when a business car is used for private journeys. This approach removes the need to keep detailed mileage records. In practice, businesses should reclaim all the VAT on the fuel for the car, then use the fuel scale charge tool to work out the correct charge for the period. Once calculated, this amount needs to be included in the VAT owed on the VAT Return.

Where the CO2 emission figure is not a multiple of five, the figure is rounded down to the next multiple of five to determine the level of the charge. For a bi-fuel vehicle which has two CO2 emissions figures, the lower of the two figures should be used. There are special rules for cars which are too old to have a CO2 emissions figure.

Employees with a second job, third job or more may be able to defer or delay paying Class 1 National Insurance on their additional employment. This deferment can be requested when Class 1 National Insurance contributions are being paid to more than one employer.

If you have 2 jobs, over the tax year you’ll need to earn:

• £967 or more per week from one job over the tax year.
• £242 or more per week in your second job

If you have more than 2 jobs, over the tax year you’ll need to earn:

• £1,209 or more per week from 2 of those jobs
• £242 or more per week in your other jobs

This deferral could result in NIC deductions at a reduced rate of 2% on your weekly earnings between £242 and £967 in one of your jobs, instead of the standard rate of 8%.

If you are allowed to defer, HMRC will inform you which employer is your main one for full Class 1 National Insurance contributions and which employers you can pay at the reduced 2% rate, sending those employers a certificate of deferment. HMRC does not share information about your other jobs with your employers.

HMRC will check if you have paid enough National Insurance at the end of the tax year and will write to you if you owe anything.

The rules that govern who pays Income Tax in Scotland is determined by whether an individual is considered a Scottish taxpayer. For most people, determining Scottish taxpayer status is straightforward. Individuals who live in Scotland are considered Scottish taxpayers, while those who live elsewhere in the UK are not.

If a taxpayer has homes in both Scotland and elsewhere in the UK, HMRC guidance is used to determine their main home for Scottish Income Tax purposes. Those without a permanent home who regularly stay in Scotland, such as offshore workers or hotel residents, may also be liable for SRIT.

If a person moves to or from Scotland during a tax year, their tax liability is determined by where they spent the majority of that year. Scottish taxpayer status applies to the entire tax year and cannot be split.

Those defined as Scottish taxpayers are liable to pay the Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) on their non-savings and non-dividend income.

Many modern companies insist on the inclusion of restrictive covenants to limit the freedoms of employees upon the termination of their contracts. However, the High Court recently reinforced the stringent legal principles governing the enforceability of such restrictive covenants, suggesting that they often overstep.

A young man had been working as a salesperson for a UK subsidiary of an American company that sells made-to-measure suits and shirts manufactured in the USA. His original contract included restrictive covenants limited to 6 months. However, the contract was changed in 2022 to double the duration of the non-compete covenant to 12 months and remove the previous reliefs, significantly widening their scope. The employee asserted that he was not informed of these changes, and the claimant failed to produce any evidence to justify the widening of the scope of the limitations or the doubling of their duration.

The employee’s initial performance was strong, although following a conduct issue in January 2025, he was subjected to an addendum requiring humiliating and intrusive conditions, including weekly “counselling”, a ban from earned trips, and exclusion from leadership roles. The ex-employee had also raised product quality concerns, which he felt were ignored, and found the work culture ‘toxic’ and the disciplinary action both unfair and intrusive. As a consequence, he resigned in frustration in 2025, only to be subjected to an “insensitive, verging on brutal” retaliation. Within two days, the HR manager had cut off all IT access, threatened an investigation, and banned the defendant from the office. A day later, on Sunday, the claimant’s lawyers hand-delivered a threatening letter to the defendant’s home seeking to enforce a 12-month restrictive covenant. Moreover, there were claims that the defendant had breached his contractual duties, including running down his sales in the months prior to his resignation, and soliciting staff.

The High Court dismissed the claim for breach of contract and ruled that the 12-month restrictive covenant was unenforceable, as it far exceeded what was reasonably necessary to protect the claimant’s business. Moreover, the Court found the decline in performance to be stress-related and due to his inevitable demotivation.

This case reinforces the longstanding principle that courts will not uphold a covenant if it extends beyond what is strictly necessary to protect an employer’s legitimate business interests, which are typically delimited to confidential information and customer goodwill. The case serves as a warning in relation to the risks employers run when their conduct is perceived to be heavy-handed, humiliating, or toxic, particularly during disciplinary or exit procedures. HR departments should be wary of engaging in overtly humiliating or heavy-handed disciplinary rituals, as these may be viewed as a form of brutality.