|
Anyone who did not file their tax return by the January 31 2018 deadline will already have been charged a penalty of £100, but they will also have to pay a daily penalty on top of that if it is more than three months late: for online returns with a January 31 2018 filing date that would be from May 1 2018.
The £10 daily penalties continue to be chargeable for up to 90 days unless the taxpayer submits their return within that time.
About 10.7 million people submitted their annual tax returns by midnight on January 31 2018 but HMRC estimate that 745,588 people missed the deadline.
Robin Williamson, from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) said: “If a tax return for 2016/17 has still not been filed by July 31 2018, the initial penalty of £100 and the daily penalties chargeable will amount to a total of £1,000, in addition to which a further penalty of at least £300 becomes chargeable. These automatic penalties take no account of the amount of tax an individual owes – even if you owe nothing or are owed tax back.
"If you have registered for Self-Assessment you must submit a tax return or inform HMRC that you no longer fall under the Self-Assessment criteria and ask them to agree to cancel the requirement for the tax return. If they do this, then any late filing penalties will also be abated.
“If someone believes they do not need to be in Self-Assessment, for example because their taxes are fully dealt with under the Pay As You Earn system or simple assessment, or because they have left the UK, they should be able to ask HMRC to withdraw the notice to file a tax return. Such an application must be made within two years of the end of the tax year to which the return relates.
“Even if they cannot get HMRC to cancel the requirement for the tax return to be filed, late filing penalties can be appealed if there is a reasonable excuse for filing late such as prolonged ill-heath, bereavement or family breakdown.”
Late submission penalties:
- £100 – applied immediately the form is late;
- £10 per day – charged once the return is three months late for a maximum of 90 days;
- The higher of £300 or five per cent of the tax due – applied if the form is six months late; and
- A further £300 or five per cent of the tax due (whichever is higher) – applied if the form is 12 months late.
Penalty regime
Those who should have registered for Self-Assessment for 2016/17 but have not yet done so, do not fall under this penalty regime. Specific rules apply to such ‘failure to notify’ cases – penalties are based on the amount of tax lost as a result of the failure to notify and are stepped according to whether or not the failure is deliberate and the quality of any disclosure.
Advertisement 
If there is no tax lost, then as a matter of fact, there cannot be any penalty. If someone tells HMRC about their failure and generally co-operate with them to quantify the tax due, then HMRC can reduce the penalty. If they told HMRC about the failure without the tax authority having to prompt them, the penalty chargeable could be as low as zero per cent provided HMRC are told within 12 months of the tax becoming due. Failure to notify penalties can also be cancelled on grounds of reasonable excuse.
Robin Williamson said: "The best thing to do is to inform HMRC of your need to complete a tax return and get the tax return in as soon as possible."
--
If you wish to comment on this article, please log in and use the Reply button below. Registering is free and easy - see 'Join Shout99'.
-
Susie Hughes © Shout99 2018
|
