Over one million taxpayers living in the north-west missed the deadline for filing their self-assessment tax return over the last three years and faced a £100 penalty, new figures have shown.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is now encouraging taxpayers to get their returns in – and any pay tax due – early.

Those who received a self-assessment tax return from April 2005 must settle any outstanding taxes and file their forms by midnight on January 31st 2006.

Those who fail to do this will face a £100 penalty and will have to pay interest on any taxes still owed.

The self-assessment procedure applies to those who are self-employed, company directors, partners, higher-rate taxpayers, or people who otherwise have complicated tax affairs.

In 2004-05, 9.8 million self-assessment tax returns were issued - and more than 1.7 million penalties were issued to taxpayers who failed to get their returns in before the January 31st deadline.

For the previous three tax years to 2003-2004, offices across the north-west handled around 1.5 million penalty notices for late self-assessment tax returns.

However, online self assessment is growing in popularity, with the number of people using the service increasing by 30 per cent year-on-year as of April 2005.

Roy Massing ale, director of Self Assessment at HMRC, said: "Filing tax returns online is easy and fast, at hmrc.gov.uk however we are encouraging people who want to do it this way to file sooner rather than later to avoid the last minute rush.

"We expect the last few days will see a record number of returns being filed through the HMRC website. We want people to get in early, avoid peak traffic and get the smoothest service.

"It's also important for people to remember that if they post their return to us, it needs to be received by January 31st - so allow plenty of time for posting."