![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/woman-looking-worried.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUp to 3.6 million self-employed workers could be forced to pay two years’ worth of income tax within just 14 months.<\/p>\n
Experts have warned workers the change could come amid HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) proposed overhaul of the self-assessment system.<\/p>\n
The revenue authority plans to move self-assessment taxpayers onto a PAYE-style monthly tax collection system from April 2029.<\/p>\n
The proposals, first reported last month, would replace the current twice-yearly payment structure with automatic monthly deductions.<\/p>\n
However, tax experts have warned the transition could create an expensive overlap between the outgoing and incoming systems.<\/p>\n
HMRC’s consultation, which closed earlier this week, acknowledged that 30 per cent of the 12 million taxpayers currently within the self-assessment system make payments on account.<\/p>\n
This means millions of freelancers, landlords, side-hustle earners and investors could be affected by the changes.<\/p>\n
The issue centres on the timing of the transition.<\/p>\n
Millions of self-employed workers warned over HMRC tax plan that could force two years of bills into 14 months<\/p>\n
| GETTY <\/p>\n
Self-employed taxpayers would still need to make their first payment on account for the 2028-29 tax year on January 31, 2029, followed by a second instalment on July 31.<\/p>\n
From April 2029, the new monthly deductions would begin at the same time, creating overlapping tax obligations.<\/p>\n
The Association of Taxation Technicians has illustrated the potential impact with an example involving a self-employed worker earning \u00a350,000.<\/p>\n
Under the current rules, they would pay two instalments of \u00a34,866 in January and July 2029.<\/p>\n
At the same time, they would also begin paying \u00a3811 each month under the new system from April 2029 until March 2030.<\/p>\n
![\"HMRC\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/hmrc.jpg\")
The combined tax bill across the 14-month period would total \u00a319,464.<\/p>\n
The association warned this could create significant cash-flow pressures for affected taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Dan Neidle, founder of Tax Policy Associates, said: “It would be a mistake to do this, and I hope the Government will realise that.”<\/p>\n
Charlene Young, pensions and savings expert at AJ Bell, said: “It’s being billed as a measure to prevent bill shock twice a year, but it’s inevitably going to involve more admin, queries and phoning the creaking doom loop that is the HMRC helpline.”<\/p>\n
She also warned about the potential for incorrect tax calculations.<\/p>\n
Ms Young added: “There’s an obvious risk HMRC gets its sums wrong, as relying on tax forecasts could mean it collects too much.”<\/p>\n
Tax commentator Mike Warburton described the proposals as “an accident waiting to happen”, warning they could create further confusion for taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Defending the proposed changes, a HMRC spokesman said: “No one will pay more tax, and spreading payments more evenly across the year will help customers avoid unexpected lump-sum bills<\/p>\n
“We recently sought views on how we can smooth any transition period for customers and will set out further details in due course.”<\/p>\n
Mr Neidle has suggested an alternative approach that he believes would reduce pressure on taxpayers.<\/p>\n
He proposed cancelling the final payment under the existing system and allowing taxpayers to repay that amount interest-free over several years.<\/p>\n
Mr Neidle argued this would still provide a cash-flow benefit to the Exchequer while making the transition more manageable for self-employed workers.<\/p>\n
The consultation on the proposals closed earlier this week and the Government has not yet published its formal response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Up to 3.6 million self-employed workers could be forced to pay two years’ worth of income tax within…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,2218,2222,474,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-730725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-hmrc","tag-money","tag-tax","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}