Research and analysis

Self Assessment campaign tracking research report 2023 to 2024

Published 6 November 2025

Quantitative research with Self Assessment customers.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Research Report 840.

Research conducted by YouGov between November 2023 and March 2024. The findings in this report reflect the attitudes of participants at the time it was conducted. Prepared by YouGov (Sophie Webb, Zöe Chamberlain and Gavin Ellison) 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 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) use to collect Income Tax. Income Tax, where owed, is usually deducted automatically from wages and pensions. However, approximately 12 million HMRC customers have other taxable income that requires them to complete a Self Assessment tax return when asked to do so by HMRC.

HMRC customers who may need to submit a tax return include: self-employed individuals, landlords, partners in business partnerships, employees or pensioners with a high annual income, and Child Benefit claimants whose income, or their partner’s income, is over a certain threshold. HMRC customers must submit their Tax Return for the tax year 6 April to 5 April by the following 31 January. Tax returns for the year 6 April 2022 to 5 April 2023 needed to be submitted by 31 January 2024.

Each year HMRC runs a Self Assessment communications campaign, encouraging people to file their tax return and pay money due by the 31 January deadline. This annual campaign runs all year, with a peak from September to January, with a comprehensive communications programme. This includes:

• direct customer communications (such as post, email and text messages)
• low-to-no cost channels (such as stakeholder groups and media reporting)
• paid advertising

Paid advertising is used as a final prompt between late December and the end of January, just ahead of the Self Assessment deadline. In 2024, the advertising operated across multiple channels including:

• radio
• digital audio
• online banners
• video-on-demand
• social media

1.1 Research objectives

The research was designed to understand the effectiveness of the 2023 to 2024 Self Assessment advertising 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 audio, video and static images
• response to the campaign elements including message take-out and understanding of the call to action
• pre-campaign and post-campaign wave shifts in knowledge and attitudes as a result of exposure to the campaign

1.2 Methodology

Two waves of survey research were conducted to assess the effectiveness of the 2023 to 2024 campaign. First, a pre-campaign wave, which functioned as a baseline prior to the campaign running. This was followed by a post-campaign wave which was used to look for changes in awareness and perceptions compared to the pre-campaign wave.

The pre-campaign wave took place from 21 November to 26 December 2023, and the post-campaign wave from 5 February to 4 March 2024. Five hundred and fifty-seven Self Assessment customers were surveyed in the pre-campaign wave, and another separate 571 Self Assessment customers were surveyed in the post-campaign wave. Customers were sampled from across the UK using the YouGov online panel. Respondents who completed the pre-campaign wave were excluded from completing the post-campaign wave to ensure the data was not biased by their previous exposure to the topic.

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

• one of 2 audio adverts (rotated evenly across the sample)
• one of 2 video adverts (rotated evenly across the sample)
• two static images (shown to all)

In this report, comparisons are made between the pre- and post-campaign waves of the survey. Differences in response between audiences 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.

1.3 Sample composition

The sample for this survey reflects the target audience for the evaluation of the advertising campaign, which is a subgroup of the overall Self Assessment population. It excludes those who: use an agent, are HMRC employees or accountants, took part in previous iterations of the research, were aged over 65, or had not received notifications or forms requesting they submit a tax return.

Quotas were set to achieve an adequate sample size for each of the 2 main audiences of the Self Assessment campaign, individuals and businesses. The businesses sampled for this research, and referred to throughout the report, are those customers 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 business sample was weighted to have 10% of the sample businesses with 2 or more employees, whilst other businesses and sole traders were weighted to constitute 90% of the sample. Age weighting was applied after fieldwork to align both samples with the age breakdown of the population who submitted tax returns for the 2022 to 2023 tax year.

2 Findings

2.1 Campaign recall

Throughout this report we will refer to respondents’ spontaneous or prompted response to questions. Spontaneous responses refer to instances where respondents were asked a question before being shown any information about the topic (for example, before being shown an advert). Prompted responses refer to instances where respondents were shown a prompt before being asked a question (for example, being shown an advert, then asked a question about it).

2.1.1 Spontaneous recall of advertising or media coverage about dealing with taxes

In order to understand customers’ general awareness of communications about Self Assessment, the pre- and post-campaign wave surveys measured respondents’ spontaneous recall of advertising or media coverage about dealing with their taxes. In the post-campaign wave, 37% of individuals and 33% of businesses reported seeing such advertising or media coverage.

There was a shift in individuals’ recall, with their spontaneous recall of tax-related advertising or media coverage rising from 23% in the pre-campaign wave to 37% in the post-campaign wave. Although businesses reported higher recall than Individuals in the pre-campaign wave (34% vs 23%), the proportions in the post-campaign wave were comparable between the 2 audiences (37% of individuals vs 33% of businesses). There were no significant changes between the pre- and post-campaign waves amongst businesses.

2.1.2 Prompted recall of advertising or media coverage about dealing with taxes 

Respondents were then prompted with a list of possible information and advertising sources to ascertain prompted recall. Overall, in the post-campaign wave 71% of Individuals and 65% of businesses recalled seeing or hearing advertising or media coverage from at least one source. This represented a significant increase in individuals’ recall compared to the pre-campaign wave (62%).

Email reminders were the most commonly mentioned source by both audiences: 36% of individuals and 38% of businesses in the post-campaign wave recalled hearing advertising from this source. This was followed by TV advertising (21% of individuals and 18% of businesses) and text messages (16% of individuals and 17% of businesses).

Multiple sources saw increases in prompted recall between the pre- and post-campaign waves amongst both individuals and businesses. The proportion of individuals who saw something in a TV advert increased from 9% to 21% between the pre- and post-campaign waves, and a similar pattern emerged for text messages (from 10% to 16%) and radio adverts (from 2% to 7%). Among businesses, there were increases in those who recalled seeing the campaign on social media (from 6% to 13%).

Respondents who said they had seen or heard advertising or media coverage were then asked to recall whether what they had seen or heard was from HMRC or elsewhere. HMRC was most commonly identified, with 77% of individuals and 83% of businesses selecting this in the post-campaign wave. In contrast, approximately 13% of individuals and 14% of businesses stated that what they had seen or heard had come from a business (for example, an accountancy firm or accountancy software provider). While the proportion of individuals who identified HMRC remained consistent between the pre- and post-campaign waves, the proportion of businesses who identified HMRC increased from 72% to 83%.

2.1.3 Recognition of adverts used in HMRC’s Self Assessment advertising campaign

After measuring general recall levels of advertising and media coverage, the survey evaluated respondents’ recognition of HMRC adverts. Recognition of the campaign was measured by exposing respondents to 3 different adverts used in HMRC’s Self Assessment advertising campaign. Respondents listened to one audio advert and watched one video advert and 2 static image adverts. Thirty-seven percent of individuals and 43% of businesses reported having seen or heard at least one of the audio, video or static image adverts.

The audio adverts had the highest levels of recognition: 26% of individuals and 35% of businesses said that they had heard the exact advert they were played, or something similar. Comparatively, the video adverts were recognised by around 2 in 10 in both audiences (22% of both individuals and businesses reported seeing the exact video or something similar), while close to one in 6 recognised either of the static images (17% of individuals and 16% of businesses).

Respondents who recognised any adverts were asked to identify where they had originally seen or heard them. While the sample size of those who saw the static image adverts was too low for an analysis of the source of the image, the most common sources for seeing or hearing the other advert types were as follows. Of those who recognised audio adverts, 67% of individuals and 66% of businesses reported hearing them on the radio. Comparatively, 34% of individuals and businesses reporting hearing them online. Of those who recognised video adverts, 44% of individuals and 45% of businesses saw them on social media, 44% of individuals and businesses saw them on video-on-demand, and 18% of individuals and 11% of business saw them online whilst browsing.

2.2 Campaign messaging

2.2.1 Main message from recalled advertising or media coverage

In the post-campaign wave, those who had seen or heard any advertising or media coverage about dealing with taxes (399 out of 500 respondents) were then asked to identify the key message of this. Of this group, more than 7 in 10 individuals and businesses (both 73%) most commonly identified Self Assessment deadlines as the key message in what they had seen or heard. This was followed by identification of messages about Self Assessment generally (20% of individuals and 27% of businesses) while slightly lower proportions identified messages about Self Assessment penalties (18% of individuals and 13% of businesses).

There was a significant increase in the proportion of both audiences mentioning deadlines between the pre- and post-campaign wave. Individuals were 12 percentage points more likely to mention hearing coverage about this after the campaign (from 61% to 73%), and businesses saw an even larger increase of 21 percentage points (from 52% to 73%).

2.2.2 Main message from adverts used in HMRC’s Self Assessment advertising campaign

After being shown the HMRC video, audio and static image adverts in the post-campaign wave survey, deadlines were the most frequently spontaneously referenced message by both individuals and businesses, alongside mentions of the urgency to complete the Self Assessment, as well as not getting distracted.

When prompted with a list of possible campaign messages, a similar focus on the filing deadline, a sense of urgency and mentions of available support emerged. The most commonly identified messages from this prompted list are displayed in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Most commonly identified prompted messages by individuals and businesses

Message from adverts	Individuals	Businesses
You have until 31st January to do your tax return	63%	55%
It’s important to get on with doing your tax return now	61%	56%
You shouldn’t leave it until the last minute to do your tax return	61%	55%
Payment support may be available for Self Assessment taxpayers	42%	34%
Visit GOV.UK/Self Assessment for information about your tax return	32%	26%

2.3 Attitudes towards HMRC adverts

2.3.1 Agreement with statements about HMRC adverts

After being shown the HMRC adverts, respondents’ attitudes towards the adverts were generally positive, with more agreeing with positive statements about them than disagreeing. Messaging was well understood, with 9 in 10 saying that it was clear what the adverts were telling them to do (90% of individuals and 89% of businesses). More than half said that the adverts told them something worth knowing (59% of individuals and 55% of businesses). Many see the relevance of the adverts, with close to half who agreed they are for people like them (48% of individuals and 47% of businesses).

Respondents were also significantly more likely to feel that the adverts were supportive and encouraging rather than irritating. Just under half of individuals (49%) and of businesses (46%) felt the adverts were supportive and encouraging, while just over a third felt they were irritating (35% of individuals and 38% of businesses). However, there was a similar proportion who found them patronising (41% of individuals and 46% of businesses). That said, there was a negative correlation between finding the adverts patronising and both trust in HMRC and belief that HMRC is there to help with tax. Respondents from both audiences who disagreed that they trust HMRC and disagreed that HMRC are there to help with tax were more likely to find the adverts patronising.

Twenty-four percent of individuals and 19% of businesses said they had a better opinion of Self Assessment after seeing the adverts. A far lower proportion (8% of individuals and 10% of businesses) said they had a worse opinion. The majority said their opinion has stayed the same (65% of individuals and 69% of businesses).

2.3.2 Actions as a result of the HMRC adverts

Close to a third of respondents (38% of individuals and 32% of businesses) said that the adverts made them want to get their tax return done as soon as possible. More than 4 in 10 individuals (45%) and businesses (41%) said the adverts made them think about the 31 January deadline. A similar proportion (41% of individuals and 37% of businesses) said the adverts made them feel good as they had already completed their tax return. A lower proportion said that the adverts made them feel like they should not put off doing their tax return (33% of individuals and 28% of businesses).

Slightly less than half of those who had recognised at least one HMRC advert reported that they have taken at least one action as a result of seeing or hearing the adverts (48% of individuals and 46% of businesses). The most common of these actions was to complete their tax return online (20% of individuals and 15% of businesses). For individuals, this was followed by starting to gather necessary accounts (13%), while for businesses this was followed by paying what they owe by the deadline (11%). One in 3 said that they had already completed their tax return before seeing the adverts (34% of individuals and 32% of businesses).

Individuals (38%) and businesses (39%) were equally likely to agree that the adverts made them either a lot more likely or a bit more likely to complete their tax return on time, compared to 6 in 10 who said the adverts made no difference (both 59%).

2.4 Respondents’ attitudes towards and awareness of Self Assessment

2.4.1 Respondents’ awareness of deadline and penalties

Respondents’ awareness of the filing deadline increased between the pre- and post-campaign waves. Over 6 in 10 individuals (69%) and businesses (63%) input the correct deadline for filing online returns in the post-campaign wave. This proportion significantly increased since the pre-campaign wave for both audiences, where awareness was 60% amongst individuals and 50% amongst businesses. Those who did not give the correct deadline were then prompted with a list of potential deadlines to choose from. Less than half of respondents were able to identify the correct deadline, with no significant difference between the audiences (36% of individuals and 47% of businesses).

The majority of individuals (92%) and businesses (89%) reported they were aware of late filing penalties in the post-campaign wave. There were no significant differences between individuals and businesses, nor between the pre- and post-campaign waves.

Awareness of time-to-pay arrangements was comparatively lower, although most were still aware. Just over half of individuals (51%) and businesses (56%) in the post-campaign wave were aware that HMRC offers time-to-pay arrangements for customers who are unable to pay their tax bill. There were no significant differences between individuals and businesses, nor between the pre- and post-campaign waves.

2.4.2 Respondents’ attitudes towards Self Assessment

Most respondents reported that they believe it is better to complete your tax return early, with 8 in 10 in the post-campaign wave agreeing that it is better to do it early than wait until the last minute (84% of individuals and 80% of Businesses). However comparatively fewer individuals (32%) and businesses (36%) agreed that most people complete their tax return more than a month before the deadline.

Around 6 in 10 agreed that until they do it, their tax return is always at the back of their mind (62% of individuals and 64% of businesses). Around half of individuals (54%) and businesses (54%) feel that there are other things that distract them from completing their Self Assessment.

The majority of respondents in the post-campaign wave reported that completing their Self Assessment has the same level of priority for them this financial year as in previous years (75% of individuals and 80% of businesses).

More respondents think completing Self Assessments is getting easier rather than getting harder. In the post-campaign wave, around 4 in 10 individuals (37%) and businesses (40%) said doing their taxes is getting easier. A similar proportion felt they were neither getting more difficult nor easier (38% of individuals and 34% of businesses). The smallest proportion were those who said it is getting more difficult, with 2 in 10 individuals and businesses saying this (20% and 19% respectively).

2.5 Respondents attitudes towards HMRC

Many respondents had positive attitudes towards HMRC. Most respondents in the post-campaign wave agreed that HMRC informs them when the tax deadlines are (87% of individuals and 83% of businesses). Meanwhile, close to half of individuals (50%) and businesses (54%) agreed that HMRC deals fairly with people who pay Self Assessment. A similar proportion agreed that HMRC is here to help with tax (51% of individuals and 48% of businesses) and helps them get their tax right the first time (both 49%). Likewise, around half of individuals (48%) and businesses (47%) agreed that HMRC is an organisation they trust and that HMRC deals firmly with anyone who intentionally avoids their responsibilities (48% of individuals and 44% of businesses).

Respondents who recognised any of the HMRC video, audio, or static adverts were more likely than those who did not recognise them to agree with all the previous statements except that HMRC informs them when tax deadlines are, where there was no difference depending on advert recognition.

3. Conclusion

The findings from this research support the view that the advertising campaign was effective in raising awareness of the Self Assessment deadline and motivating customers to take action. Recognition of the advertising was strong, with the audio adverts being the most recognised, and HMRC cited most often as the source of recalled advertising. Campaign messages were effectively communicated, with respondents spontaneously recalling Self Assessment deadlines as a key message. The adverts created a sense of urgency, with the message to not leave tax returns to the last-minute resonating strongly. In communicating their messages, the adverts were viewed positively by many respondents, with close to a third saying the adverts made them want to get their tax return done as soon as possible.