Understand your self assessment tax bill

You will get a bill when you have filed your tax return. If you filed online you can view this: 

  • when you have finished filling in your return (but before you submit it) - in the section view your calculation
  • in your final tax calculation: it can take up to 72 hours after you have submitted your return for this to be available in your account (external link) 

HMRC will send your bill by post if you did a paper return. 

You may need your tax calculation (external link) (known as a SA302), for example if you are self-employed and applying for a mortgage. 

Understanding your bill 

Your bill includes the tax you owe for the last tax year. This is called a balancing payment on your bill. 

If this is more than £1,000, your bill will usually include an additional payment towards next year’s bill (known as a ‘payment on account’). 

If you made payments on account last year 

You will need to deduct any payments on account you made last year towards this year’s bill to work out what you owe. 

To check the payments on account (external link) you made last year 

  1. Sign in to your online account (external link)  
  2. Select the option to view your latest self assessment return 
  3. Select view statements

Paying your bill 

You need to pay your self assessment tax bill (external link) by midnight on 31 January (following the tax year you are paying for) to avoid a penalty (external link)