Research and analysis

Self Assessment Campaign Tracking report 2021 to 2022

Published 29 September 2022

Quantitative research with Self Assessment customers.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Research Report 675.

Research conducted by Ipsos between November 2021 and February 2022, the findings in this report reflect the attitudes of participants at the time it was conducted. Prepared by Ipsos (Juliette Albone, Tom Cooper, Kyle Morris) for HMRC.

Disclaimer: The views in this report are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of HMRC.

1. Research background

Self Assessment is a process HMRC use to collect Income Tax. Tax is usually deducted automatically from wages, pensions and savings. However, approximately 12 million HMRC customers have taxable income that requires them to complete a Tax Return each year.

HMRC customers who may need to submit a Self Assessment Tax Return include self-employed individuals; landlords; employees or pensioners with an annual income of £100,000 or more; and people whose income, or a partner’s income, is over £50,000 and claim Child Benefit. HMRC customers complete and pay their Tax Return for the previous tax year. In January 2022 HMRC customers completed and paid their return for the 2020 to 2021 tax year.

Each year HMRC runs a Self Assessment communications campaign to encourage people to file their returns and pay money due by the deadline, to avoid paying a penalty. This is supported by advertising to raise awareness of the Tax Return deadline, particularly amongst customers not represented by a tax agent and prompting them to submit their return on-time.

The campaign creative has evolved over the years. The current campaign messaging moved away from the ‘Tax Ducks’ used in recent years (2017 to 2018 to 2019 to 2020). HMRC knew their customers were still feeling the impact of COVID-19 and may be concerned about their ability to pay their tax liability. As such in 2021 HMRC developed a new look to the advertising, one that took a more supportive tone and ensured all advertising promoted the payment support that was extended to include more HMRC customers.

The creative continued in 2022 as customers were still impacted by the pandemic. Channels used in the advertising campaign included radio, digital display, paid-per-click, video on demand and social media.

1.1 Research objectives

The research was designed to understand the effectiveness of the 2021 to 2022 Self Assessment communications campaign across 4 key areas of measurement:

• spontaneous and prompted awareness of the campaign and sources of awareness among Self Assessment customers

• recognition of the different campaign channels, including radio and digital

• response to the campaign elements: message take-out and understanding of the call to action

• pre and post-wave shifts in knowledge and attitudes as a result of exposure to the campaign

1.2 Methodology

Ipsos’ Social Research Institute carried out the research using an online panel.

Two waves of research were conducted to measure the 2021 to 2022 campaign performance: a pre-wave, which acted as a baseline prior to the campaign running, followed by a post-wave after the campaign ended.

The 2021 to 2022 pre-wave survey took place between 22 November to 14 December 2021, and for the 2021 to 2022 post-wave survey from 1 February to 9 February 2022. 500 Self Assessment Tax Return customers were surveyed in the 2021 pre-wave, and another separate 500 Self Assessment Tax Return customers were surveyed in the 2022 post-wave. Customers were sampled from across the UK from the Ipsos online panel.

To increase the robustness of findings, Ipsos was able to increase the volume of pre- and post-wave interviews from previous years of tracking by partnering with an external sample supplier to source additional sample.

In the post-wave research, each customer was shown and played examples of the following campaign materials:

• one of 2 radio ads (rotated)

• one of 3 social media ads (rotated)

In this report, comparisons are made between the pre- and post-waves of the survey. Differences in response between groups or across waves have been significance tested at a 95% level. Where we reference a ‘significant’ increase or decrease, this means a statistically significant difference at the 95% level.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, tracking was carried out via face-to-face CAPI (computer-assisted personal interviewing) surveys. Due to the pandemic, the methodology changed in 2020/2021 to an online panel.

Additionally, this year the sample approach differed from last year; the sample size was increased to increase robustness. Therefore, please note that direct like-for-like comparisons with prior waves of the campaign evaluation are not possible. Where reference is made to previous waves this is to provide contextual information only and should not be treated as direct comparisons. Such references should therefore be treated with caution.

Sample composition

Quotas were set to achieve a robust sample size for each of the 2 main Self Assessment Tax Return customer groups (individuals and businesses), as shown in Table 1. The businesses sampled for this research, and referred to throughout the report, are those who use Self Assessment to pay the taxes on the income generated via their business activity. This includes the self-employed and those in a business partnership arrangement.

The 2021 to 2022 Pre-wave sample comprised of 500 survey completes which took twenty minutes. This included 225 businesses with no employees and sole traders, 25 business owners with more than one employee, and 250 individuals,

The 2021 to 2022 Post-wave sample comprised of 500 survey completes which took twenty minutes. This included 225 businesses with no employees and sole traders, 25 business owners with more than one employee, and 250 individuals.

2. Summary of findings

The advertising is clearly communicating information about the filing deadline. Unprompted responses highlight the deadline as the most salient message amongst both businesses and individuals.

Evidence that information about the deadline is resonating can be seen in how many people were able to correctly identify the exact deadline date unprompted. The proportion of both individuals and businesses able to correctly identify the exact deadline date increased significantly in the post wave. However, this proportion is lower than last year.

Advertising is also effectively communicating information about the payment support available for Self Assessment taxpayers. Over half of both businesses and individuals recall that payment support may be available when asked about what the adverts told them.

Advertising is effective at prompting both individuals and businesses to take action. Around 6 in 10 individuals and half of businesses who saw the ads took at least one action as a result of seeing it. Completing their tax return was the most cited follow up action amongst both audiences.

Over half of HMRC customers are aware of time-to-pay arrangements. The government website was the main source of information for those who were aware.

Behaviours around submitting remain mostly unchanged by both the ads and changing circumstances from events like the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit. The majority of both businesses and individuals prioritise submitting their return the same as in previous years. For over half of customers, the ads made no difference to how likely they are to do their return on time.

3. Detailed findings

3.1 Campaign performance and recall

Customers were asked in both the pre- and post-wave surveys about their awareness of any advertising about doing their taxes, without being prompted with assets from the advertising campaign. In the post-wave, one third of individuals (33%) and nearly 3 in 10 businesses (28%) recalled seeing or hearing advertising to do with taxes without being prompted.

When asked where they could recall seeing or hearing advertising or media coverage about dealing with your taxes, the most cited channel in the post-wave was TV (30% amongst individuals and 44% amongst businesses), followed by radio (15% amongst both audience groups). Social media was mentioned by 13% of individuals and 14% of businesses, and online (including GOV.UK) by 18% of individuals and 8% of businesses.

The proportion of both individuals and businesses who recalled seeing advertising on TV increased significantly between the pre- and post-wave (from 14% to 30% amongst individuals and 24% to 44% amongst businesses). Although no TV advertising was included in this campaign, HMRC did advertise on TV on demand services, which might explain why customers are attributing to TV.

When prompted by ads from the campaign in the post-wave survey, around 4 in 10 of both individuals (40%) and businesses (42%) recalled seeing at least one of the ads shown on different channels. This is slightly lower than last year, where 52% of both individuals and businesses recalled seeing at least one of the ads – however, as explained in section 1.2, comparisons to last year should be treated with caution due to the different sample approach used. The radio ads were the most likely to have been recognised by both individuals and businesses; 33% of individuals and 34% of businesses recalled hearing it.

4. Campaign messaging

Businesses and individuals who claimed to have seen or heard advertising about dealing with your taxes in the past few months were asked to describe (in their own words) what messages they remembered from the advertising material. Around one quarter of individuals (23%) and 3 in 10 businesses (30%) mentioned something to do with the deadline. Second most salient was that the ads gave them a reminder to do their tax return; one quarter of individuals (25%) and one quarter of businesses (25%) mentioned this as a detail they remembered about the ads.

When prompted, messages from the ads and media coverage with the strongest recall were the Self Assessment deadline (64% amongst individuals and 74% businesses) and Self Assessment penalties (21% of individuals and 20% with businesses).

In the post-wave survey, when all customers were asked to write what they thought they main message of the ads were, the deadline also came out as the most salient message. Just under 4 in 10 individuals (39%) and over 4 in 10 businesses (42%) thought the main message of the ads was something about the deadline, with about one quarter (27% of individuals and 26% of businesses) mentioning the deadline date specifically.

Messages to do with help and support – help to pay, support if you cannot pay, advice on how to pay – was the second most mentioned message from the ads. One third of individuals (33%) and over 4 in 10 businesses (42%) felt that the main message was to do with help and support paying Self Assessment. Over one third of both individuals (36%) and businesses (36%) felt that getting Self Assessment done as soon as possible was the main message.

Messaging is well understood, with a large majority of individuals (84%) and businesses (84%) agreeing it is clear what the advertising is telling them to do. Around 6 in 10 individuals (58%) and 2 thirds of businesses (64%) felt that the adverts told them something worth knowing. Customers were also significantly more likely to feel that the ads were supportive and encouraging (58% of individuals and 63% of businesses) than they were patronising (24% of individuals and 15% of businesses) or irritating (20% of individuals and 16% of businesses).

The advertising also acts as a trigger to file on time for just under half of customers; 45% of individuals and 46% of businesses said that the adverts make them want to get their Tax Return done as soon as possible.

In the post-wave survey, customers were asked about how the ads made them feel. Nearly 4 in 10 individuals (38%) and businesses (36%) said the advertising made them feel good as they had already completed their tax return, and around one third (30% of individuals and 33% of businesses) said it made them think about the 31st January deadline.

Another strong takeout from the ads amongst both audience groups was feeling that they should not put off doing their Tax Return; 20% of individuals and 24% of businesses said this. One fifth of both groups (18% of individuals and 20% of businesses) also felt less worried about paying the tax they owe to HMRC due to the payment support available.

The post-wave survey also explored what follow up actions customers had undertaken as a result of seeing the ads. Amongst those asked (those who recognised one of more of the ads), 59% of individuals and 46% of businesses took some sort of action after seeing the ads.

The most common follow up action amongst both audience groups was completing their Self Assessment Tax Return online (29% of individuals and 25% of businesses), followed by paying what they owed by the deadline (16% of individuals and 15% of businesses) and starting to do their Self Assessment Tax Return online (14% of individuals and 10% of businesses). A proportion of both individuals (35%) and businesses (40%) had already completed their Tax Return before seeing the ads.

Amongst those who recognised the campaign, 3 quarters (77% of individuals and 75% of businesses) felt they undertook an action relating to completing their Self Assessment earlier than they would have done if they had not seen the ads. The most cited action was completing their Self Assessment Tax Return online (23% of individuals and 27% of businesses), followed by starting to do their Tax Return online (27% of individuals and 19% of businesses).

All customers in the post-wave survey were asked whether the adverts made them more likely to complete their Self Assessment Tax Return on time. Over 4 in 10 (44%) of individuals and just under 4 in 10 businesses (39%) agreed that they were either a lot more likely or a bit more likely to.

Amongst those who did not feel that the ads made a difference to whether they would complete their return on time, a significant proportion stated it was because either they were already aware of the deadline (70% of individuals and 69% of businesses) or had already filed their return (49% of individuals and 41% of businesses).

4.1 Self Assessment completion - attitudes and awareness

The proportion of customers who had already submitted their Self Assessment Tax Return for 2021/2022 was significantly higher in the post-wave than the pre-wave amongst both individuals and businesses. 90% of individuals and 88% of businesses had completed their return in the post-wave, compared to 65% of individuals and 63% of businesses in the pre-wave.

The most cited prompt to submit their return was a personal reminder (for example, from a calendar etc) (33% amongst individuals and 28% amongst businesses in the post-wave), followed by receiving a reminder email (24% amongst individuals and 23% amongst businesses), and a text from HMRC (17% amongst both individuals and businesses).

Around half of individuals (49%) and businesses (55%) were aware of the correct deadline for filing online returns in the post-wave. Deadline awareness amongst both individuals and businesses showed a significant uplift in the post-wave (up from 26% in the pre-wave amongst individuals and from 40% amongst businesses), suggesting that the advertising has been effective in communicating the Self Assessment deadline.

These are slightly lower than last year, where 53% of individuals and 58% of businesses were able to correctly identify the correct deadline date. As explained in section 1.2, comparisons with last year should be treated with caution due to the different sample approach used.

In the post-wave survey, around 9 in 10 customers were aware of the penalties for late filing and late payment of Self Assessment (86% of individuals and 90% of businesses). This represents a significant improvement in awareness amongst both individuals and businesses in the post-wave (up from 78% amongst individuals and 82% amongst businesses in the pre-wave).

The most likely places for customers to read or hear about these penalties were the GOV.UK website (28% of individuals and 34% of businesses in the post-wave) and email reminders about Self Assessment (14% of individuals and 19% of businesses in the post-wave).

When asked about awareness of HMRC not issuing penalties for tax returns submitted after the deadline so long as they submitted before February 28th in the post-wave survey, over a third of individuals (37%) and businesses (36%) were aware of this arrangement.

Over half of both individuals (54%) and businesses (55%) in the post-wave said they were aware that HMRC’s time-to-pay arrangements were available to them. Of those who knew payment support was available to more customers this year, the GOV.UK website was the most cited source (40% of individuals and 46% of businesses in the post-wave).

The majority of customers agree that it is better to complete their tax return early. Nearly 9 in 10 customers agreed it is better to file their return early rather than waiting until the last minute (85% of individuals and 87% of businesses in the post-wave). Two thirds (66% of individuals and 65% businesses in the post-wave) said that until it is done, their Tax Return is always in the back of their mind. Nearly half of individuals (45%) in the post-wave agreed that most people complete their Tax Return more than a month before the deadline, compared to one third (33%) of businesses.

Around 3 quarters of all customers felt the level of priority attached to completing a Self Assessment Tax Return has not changed this year (74% of individuals and 80% of businesses in the post-wave). Amongst those saying it has changed, a greater proportion say it has become more important than say it has become less important (18% more important and 6% less of individuals, and 13% more important and 2% less of businesses).

Amongst those who prioritised submitting their Self Assessment differently this year, the impact of COVID-19 was the most cited reason behind it being prioritised differently (52% of individuals and 55% of businesses in the post-wave), followed by leaving the EU (30% of individuals and 18% of businesses in the post-wave).

4.2 Attitudes towards HMRC

Most customers agreed that HMRC informs them when the tax deadlines are, with 8 in 10 individuals (82%) and businesses (84%) agreeing with this statement in the post-wave. Two thirds of both individuals (66%) and businesses (66%) agreed that HMRC is here to help them with their taxes. Agreement was significantly higher for this statement amongst those who recognised the ads compared to those who did not (72% and 63% respectively).

In the post-wave, around 6 in 10 customers agreed that HMRC deals firmly with anyone who intentionally avoids responsibilities (57% amongst individuals and 64% amongst businesses). A similar proportion agreed that HMRC helps them get their tax right first time (60% amongst individuals and 58% amongst businesses). Agreement was significantly higher amongst those who recognised the ads compared to those who did not for this statement (66% and 56% respectively).

Individuals are slightly more likely than businesses to believe that doing your taxes is getting easier (41% of individuals compared to 36% of businesses in the post-wave) while businesses were more likely to feel no difference (44% of businesses compared to 40% of individuals in the post-wave). A similar proportion amongst both groups are equally as likely to believe it is getting more difficult (16% amongst both groups).

Customers who responded that submitting their taxes was getting easier or more difficult were asked to explain why in their own words. Amongst those who said that submitting their taxes was getting easier, the most mentioned reason (48%) was due to the ease of completing it online / digitally. Additionally, around one fifth (21%) of customers mentioned something to do with the information and help available as being the reason it was now easier. There was no notable difference between the reasons stated by individuals and businesses.

Online completion is easier. Plus the addition of pop-up boxes with directly relevant help is great

(Individual)

Being able to submit a self assessment online is a big help, and when I’ve had to contact HMRC by phone I’ve always felt that they are helpful

(Business)

Amongst the smaller group who felt that submitting their taxes was getting more difficult, the most mentioned reason was that the process was complex and confusing, and they did not feel the guidance was clear.

A lot of the rules are quite complicated and guidance on the online form isn’t very clear.

(Individual)

You fill it out to the best of your knowledge and understanding but there’s no way of knowing you’ve got it right.

(Business)

The likelihood of customers doing their Tax Returns online in the future was high, with 94% of individuals and 91% of businesses saying they plan to do their next return online in the post-wave.

4.3 Conclusion

Deadline information is the most salient message from the ads. This is reflected in the increase in deadline awareness between the pre-wave and post-wave. The ads are effective at prompting those who saw or heard them to take action and complete their return earlier than if they had not seen or heard the ads. However, how the majority of customers prioritise completing their Self Assessment tax return remains unchanged by the ads.