Rise in online tax returns

HMRC's decision to introduce an earlier deadline for those wanting to complete paper self-assessment tax returns has led to a rise in the number of people filing online.

The organisation reports that the number of online applications has risen by a third already this year, despite the deadline for internet returns being 31 January 2009.

A spokesperson said HMRC would normally expect around 2m people to have filed online by the end of December but is likely to hit that level in the next two weeks.