- More than 100,000 HL clients logged into the HL app on Christmas Day last year.
- The busiest time was 8am – an hour earlier than previous Christmases.
- Last year, Christmas Eve saw almost three times as many HL account top ups as Boxing Day.
- Separately, HMRC says 4,409 people did their tax return on Christmas Day, and 40,072 during the Christmas break.
- 3pm was the most popular time to submit a tax return on Christmas Day – although just 368 people did it during that hour.
- Christmas Eve was more popular, with 3,458 submitting their return between 11am-12.
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance, Hargreaves Lansdown:
“When you think of fun Christmas activities, tax returns, checking your portfolio and paying into ISAs and pensions don’t tend to spring to mind. However, last year, over the festive period, tens of thousands of people took advantage of the break to sort their finances.
When we do our festive finances
When it comes to checking in with their portfolio, HL clients got stuck in early, and the peak time on Christmas Day was 8am. This was even earlier than the previous couple of Christmases, where they waited until 9am. If you have very young children, this may be a chance to take a break when they fall asleep – after hours of opening presents and getting over-excited. Those with older families might find the time while they’re waiting for everyone else to wake up.
The peak time for a tax return on the day was 3pm, when most of the family might be sleeping off their Christmas lunch. Given it’s a much longer and more involved job than quickly checking an investment app, people are likely to wait until the morning festivities have died down.
Christmas Eve proved busier than Boxing Day for tax returns, checking finances and topping up accounts over the Christmas period last year – both were more popular than the big day itself. This will include some people making last-minute Junior ISA contributions as a Christmas gift that will be appreciated by the family long after the memory of this Christmas fades. Others will have been meaning to get around to topping up for a while, and a day off work gives them time to get round to it.
The benefits
- For some people, the idea of having time off and a clear head in the middle of the festivities is laughable. However, for those who don’t bear the brunt of the planning and don’t have smaller children around, Christmas can be a break from the everyday hustle, and take the time to consider whether their portfolio suits their needs, whether it has performed as expected over the past year, and whether it’s a good idea to top up your ISA or SIPP.
- If you have a tax return to file, there are a number of benefits to getting it done ahead of the deadline. The earlier you do it, the longer you have to work out how to pay, and if there’s a cash squeeze at the moment, it gives you space to consider whether it makes sense to set up a Time-to-Pay arrangement. Meanwhile, if you’re due a refund, you can get your hands on the money earlier.
- You also have the time and space to get things right. There are a few reliefs that are often overlooked, so check you’re claiming for everything available to you. This includes pension tax relief and gift aid for higher rate taxpayers.
- Plus, there are still some days off ahead of you, when you can consider what you learned from the misery of filing your tax return. If you spent ages digging out details of interest payments, dividends or profits on share sales, you can consider consolidating to simplify things. If you ended up paying tax on savings or investments, you can look for ways to protect them from tax, like ISA and pensions.
- Of course, if your circumstances have changed and you don’t need to file a tax return, you can let HMRC know now instead, so they can issue a withdrawal notice before the end of January. If you leave it to the deadline, you’ll have to do a tax return anyway to avoid a fine.
There’s another benefit to a festive tax return or financial check that nobody talks about. The next time you’re offered an opportunity to pop round for a cup of tea with a distant relative or sit through an excruciating pantomime, you explain that you’d love to, but you have to sort out your finances instead.”
