The short tax return was introduced in April 2005 with the aim of reducing the compliance burden for taxpayers with simple tax affairs.

The short tax return (form SA200) is a short form covering the most common sources of income (employment, self-employment, pensions, investment income, UK property) as well as common reliefs (pension contributions, gift aid, personal allowances). Capital gains and losses are reported on the usual capital gains summary supplementary pages and submitted with the short tax return.

There is no facility on the short return to calculate the tax due, although a simple guide is included for taxpayers who want to make a rough calculation.

It is not possible for a taxpayer (or the agent) to self-select a short tax return. The form cannot be downloaded from the GOV.UK website and is issued only where HMRC sends it to the taxpayer. Therefore it is not possible to provide a link to the short return within this guidance note. However, the short tax return guide (SA211) is available online.