Before including overlap relief in your Self Assessment tax return, you should check to see if you are affected by Basis Period Reform.

You can use overlap relief in the 2023 to 2024 tax year if your accounting end date:

• does not align with the tax year (accounting dates between 31 March and 5 April align with the tax year)
• has been changed to align to the tax year, but you did not use any overlap relief due
• was changed during the 2023 to 2024 tax year, but does now align with the tax year

If you have stopped trading in the 2023 to 2024 tax year you can still include overlap relief in your return for that year.

Section 12 of how to calculate your taxable profits (Self Assessment helpsheet HS222) explains how to include overlap relief in your tax return.

How to work out your overlap relief figure

Your overlap relief figure may already be entered as overlap profit carried forward on a previous Self Assessment tax return if it included trading income on the:

• Self-employment (full) (SA103F) form
• Partnership (full) (SA104F) form
• Partnership (short) (SA104S) form

You can also work out your overlap relief figure based on historic profit figures in your earlier returns.

Get help to work out your overlap relief figure.

If you cannot work out your overlap relief figure

If you do not know or cannot work out your overlap relief figure, and you cannot find it on your previous Self Assessment tax returns, HMRC may be able to help.

This service can only provide an overlap relief figure if this information has been provided in a previous tax return. If this information has not been provided the service may be able to provide historic profit figures to allow you to calculate overlap relief.

We will review the information you give us and contact you within 3 weeks. This may take longer if your case is complex.

You must file your 2023 to 2024 Self Assessment tax return by the deadline. If you do not know your overlap relief, or if you are waiting for us to provide information, estimate the overlap relief and provide provisional figures on your return. Change your return when you know the correct figures.

Do not use this service if you are working as a trust, estate, or non-resident company that has trading income. You should contact HMRC to find out how to get your overlap relief figure.

Before you start

To use this service you’ll need your Government Gateway user ID and password — if you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you first use this service.

You will need to give:

• your name
• the name or description of your business (or both)
• your business address
• your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
• the partnership’s UTR, if you’re in a partnership
• the date or tax year you started your sole trader business or joined a partnership
• the most recent period of account or basis period used by your business
• the year or years the accounting period changed (if applicable)

You will be asked for contact details and whether you would like to receive a response by letter or email.

Start now

After you have requested your overlap relief figure

HMRC will send you a confirmation letter or email with your submission reference. You should retain this as it will help when you come to complete your tax return.

If you have received a confirmation email, the reply will contain the following details so you can be sure it has come from HMRC:

• your UTR, redacted to show the last 4 digits
• the first initial of your first name
• your last name

If you have requested an overlap relief figure for your client, the confirmation email will contain your client’s details.

You can check when you can expect a reply from HMRC.