SA302: what it is, and how to get yours

Here is the part that catches almost everyone out.

If your accountant files your tax return through commercial software, which most accountants do, your SA302 will not be sitting in your HMRC online account. You have to get it from the software. People log in, hunt around, find nothing, and assume something has gone wrong with their tax return.

Nothing has gone wrong. You are looking in the wrong place.

This page explains what the SA302 is, how to get it in both cases, and why you are almost certainly being asked for a second document alongside it.

Always check GOV.UK for the latest.

What is an SA302?

An SA302 is a tax calculation. HMRC produces one for each tax year after you file a Self Assessment tax return.

It shows, for that single tax year:

• Your income, broken down by where it came from: self-employment, employment, property, dividends, and so on
• Your personal allowance
• The tax and National Insurance you owe on it

In one line: it is the answer to "how much did you earn, and how much tax did you pay on it?"

A tax year runs 6 April to 5 April. So the 2025/26 SA302 covers 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026.

It is not a form you fill in. You cannot request one before you file. It is produced from your tax return, which means there is no SA302 for a year you have not filed.

What does an SA302 look like?

It is a single page, sometimes two, headed "Tax calculation" with the tax year printed at the top and your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) on it.

Below that, a list of income sources with amounts, then the allowances deducted, then the tax due at each rate, and a total at the bottom.

If you file through commercial software, it will probably not be called an SA302 at all. Software usually calls it a "tax computation". It contains the same information and it is accepted for the same purposes. The name on the top of the page is different, and that is the only difference.

This is worth saying plainly, because a lot of people are handed a "tax computation" by their accountant, see that it does not say SA302, and think they have been given the wrong thing.

How to get your SA302

There are two routes, and which one you need depends on how your return was filed. Get this wrong and you will spend an hour looking for a document that was never there.

If you file your own return using HMRC's online service

1. Sign in to your HMRC online account
2. Go to Self Assessment
3. Go to "More details about your Self Assessment returns and payments"
4. Print the tax calculation for the year you need

You can get the last four tax years this way.

If you or your accountant use commercial software

The SA302 is not in your HMRC account. It is in the software.

Your accountant prints the tax computation from whatever software they filed with. If you file yourself using software, print it from there. If the software will not produce it, the software company is who to ask, not HMRC.

This is the single most common reason people cannot find their SA302, and it is not a mistake on anyone's part. It is simply how HMRC's system works.

Xpert clients: just email us. We will send it the same day, and usually within the hour.

One thing that trips people up

You cannot get any of this until 72 hours after the return was submitted. If you filed yesterday, it is not there yet, and refreshing the page will not help.

The second document nobody warns you about: the tax year overview

You will almost always be asked for a tax year overview as well, and it is a completely different document from a completely different place.

The SA302 shows what you declared and what you owe.
The tax year overview shows what HMRC actually has recorded against your account: the tax due, and what you have paid.

They are cross-checked against each other. That is the entire point of asking for both.

Here is the awkward part. If your return was filed through software, the tax calculation comes from the software and the tax year overview comes from HMRC. Two documents, two places, for one request.

To get the tax year overview:

1. Sign in to your HMRC online account
2. Go to Self Assessment
3. Go to "More details about your Self Assessment returns and payments"
4. Select the tax year and print the overview

You can get a tax year overview for any year, whichever way you filed.

Will they accept a copy I printed myself?

Usually, yes. But check, because it is not universal.

HMRC publishes a list of mortgage providers and lenders who accept self-printed tax calculations and tax year overviews. If yours is on it, a printout is fine.

👉 GOV.UK: mortgage providers and lenders who accept an SA302 or tax year overview

If yours is not on the list, ask them what they need before you spend time chasing paper.

How many years will I need?

Usually two or three, and they will want the same years for both documents.

The number of years is decided by whoever is asking, not by HMRC and not by us. Ask them, before you start. It is a two-minute question that saves an afternoon.

And a practical point that catches people: you can only get an SA302 for a year you have filed. If you have not yet filed last year's return and someone has asked for the last three years, filing it is the first job, not finding the document.

If your tax return has not been filed, or is not right

This is the situation nobody wants to be in and plenty of people are.

If a return is outstanding, there is no SA302 to find, and there will not be one until it is filed and 72 hours have passed.

If the figures are wrong, an SA302 is a faithful summary of a return that says the wrong thing. Amending the return changes the SA302. That is worth knowing before you hand over a document you are uneasy about.

If either of those is you, that is a conversation worth having quickly rather than slowly. Speak to us and we will tell you honestly where you stand and what it takes to fix.

If you would rather not do any of this

Getting an SA302 should take five minutes. For a lot of self-employed people it takes a fortnight, because the return was filed by someone they no longer speak to, or through software they do not have access to, or it was never filed at all.

We can usually sort it out in a day. If we file your return, your tax calculation and tax year overview are ours to produce, and you get them by email the same day you ask.

And if you do not have an accountant, or your current one is hard to reach when you need something quickly, that is worth thinking about. The document is a five-minute job. Not being able to get hold of anyone is the actual problem. If that is you, switching is easier than you would think.

The accountant's certificate

Some organisations do not want an SA302 at all. They want a signed certificate from a qualified accountant confirming your income, on the firm's letterhead.

We can sign these. AIA members are recognised by the majority of UK banks and building societies for exactly this purpose.

If you have been asked for an accountant's certificate and you are not our client, we can still help, though we will need to see enough of your records to sign something we can stand behind. We do not sign figures we have not checked. Nobody serious does.