When you stop working for yourself, there is one job left that catches a lot of people out: your final Self Assessment tax return. Telling HMRC you have stopped is one step, covered in our guide on how to tell HMRC you have stopped being self-employed. This guide is about the return itself, the one last return you still have to file, what goes on it, and how to make sure you are not overpaying on the way out.
Done right, a final return often produces a refund rather than a bill, especially if you stopped part way through the year or moved into a PAYE job. Here is exactly what to do.
Do I Still Need to File a Tax Return After I Stop?
Yes. Stopping self-employment does not switch off your filing obligation for the year you stopped. You must file one final Self Assessment return covering the period from the start of the tax year up to the date you ceased trading.
That obligation runs until you formally deregister. If you simply stop filing without telling HMRC, they keep expecting returns and start issuing penalties, even when no tax is due. So the order is simple: file your final return, then notify HMRC that you have stopped.
Which Year Is Your Final Return, and When Is It Due?
Your final return is for the tax year in which you stopped trading. Tax years run from 6 April to 5 April. So if you stopped in June 2026, that falls in the 2026/27 tax year, and your final return is the 2026/27 return, due online by 31 January 2028.
You file it on the normal deadline for that year. You do not file early just because you stopped early. The return simply covers a part-year of trading.
What Goes on Your Final Return
Your final self-employment pages cover the period from 6 April up to your cessation date. Include:
- All income invoiced or received up to the date you stopped
- All allowable business expenses up to that date (see our full list of sole trader expenses you can claim)
- Money still owed to you by customers at cessation, which is taxable even if not yet paid
- The treatment of equipment and assets you keep, sell or scrap, which can create a balancing charge or balancing allowance under capital allowances
If you took a job in the same tax year, your employment income from your P45 or P60 goes on the same return, and the tax already deducted under PAYE is credited against your bill.
Payments on Account: How to Stop Overpaying When You Leave
This is where most people leave money on the table. If you made payments on account in previous years, HMRC will still expect them, two advance payments toward a tax year you are barely trading in, or not trading in at all.
Because your income has fallen, you can make a claim to reduce your payments on account so you are not handing HMRC money you do not owe. If you have already paid payments on account for a year in which you then stopped, the overpayment comes back to you as a refund once your final return is filed. We cover the mechanics in our guide to payments on account and how to reduce them.
Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance in Your Final Year
Class 4 NI is worked out automatically on your return, on the profits for the part of the year you traded. Class 2 NI, the old flat weekly contribution, was abolished as a separate charge from 2024/25, though voluntary contributions can still matter for protecting your State Pension record if your profits are low. Your final return handles both. There is more detail in our guide to National Insurance for the self-employed.
Stopping Mid-Year Often Means a Refund
If you stop self-employment partway through a tax year and move into employment, you frequently end up due a refund. Your tax-free personal allowance is spread across the whole year, so if you only traded for part of it you may not have used it all, while PAYE tax from your new job is deducted as though you will earn at that rate all year. Your final return brings both incomes together and reconciles the position, often in your favour.
What You Can Still Claim on the Way Out
A final return is not the moment to get sloppy. The expenses people forget in their last year are the same ones they forget every year: the business use of their phone and broadband, mileage, tools and equipment, professional fees, insurance, and a proportion of home-as-office costs. Claim them right up to your cessation date. A proper review of a final return often turns an expected bill into a smaller bill, or a refund.
After the Final Return: Tell HMRC You Have Stopped
Filing your final return is not the same as deregistering. Once the final return is in, you must also notify HMRC that you have ceased trading, otherwise they keep issuing notices to file for future years. The how-to is in our companion guide: how to tell HMRC you have stopped being self-employed.
Client M stopped self-employed consultancy in July 2025 and started a salaried job in August. She assumed she still owed a big tax bill and was bracing for it. She had also already paid a payment on account in January 2025 toward the 2024/25 year.
When we prepared her final return, two things worked in her favour: she had only traded for four months of the year, so a large part of her personal allowance was unused, and PAYE had over-deducted on her new salary. We also reclaimed the payment on account she no longer owed.
Instead of the bill she feared, she received a refund of just over 1,900 pounds, and we deregistered her so no further returns would be expected.
Frequently Asked Questions
Stopping self-employment? Let us file your final return.
At Your Tax Help Accountants in Stanmore, we prepare your final Self Assessment return, reclaim any overpaid payments on account, and deregister you with HMRC, often turning an expected bill into a refund.
Or email info@yourtaxhelp.co.uk | yourtaxhelp.co.uk