Did You File Your Tax Return On Time?

I am hoping that everyone reading this blog post who needed to file a tax return will have submitted it by 31 January ...

Apparently, there are about a million taxpayers out there who have missed this year's deadline. It's interesting to note that in the 72 hours running up to midnight on 31 January, about 1 million out of the 11 million returns issued were filed just in the nick of time.

"There is an immediate £100 fine for missing the deadline!"

You'll get a further £10 daily penalty if the return is not filed after 3 months up to a maximum of £900. Then if the return I still not filed after 6 months there is a further penalty of £300 or 5% of the tax you owe whichever is larger ... and am only talking here about the filing of the return. There are further surcharges and interest payable on the late payment of tax too.

Taxpayers are able to appeal against a penalty if they became seriously ill or the filing portal crashed, but it's a long arduous process to get the appeal through. I don't think getting carried away with Brexit happening an hour before the deadline will wash with HMRC either.

HMRC are fairly reluctant to waive penalties citing the fact that the taxpayer had since 6 April in the previous calendar year to file their return.

If you feel inspired to find out more about anything I've said here, do call me on 01908 774320 or leave a comment below and I'll be in touch as soon as I can.