It was a huge surprise to everyone when HMRC announced that the normal the 31st of January tax return filing deadline had been extended to the 28th of February instead ...
There's less than a week to go before the end of January, and it seems that HMRC was down over three million tax returns so had to make a decision. There has been much talk of HMRC allowing easier appeals to late filing penalties, so this blanket extension for all taxpayers is a very sensible decision on their part.
But there is a sting in the tail to this story, so it's not all a happy ending. Although the tax return filing deadline has been extended to the 28th of February, the due date for paying any outstanding tax hasn't.
This means that should you choose to file your tax return in February; you will be charged interest and surcharges if you don't pay all the tax outstanding by the 31st of January. You'll be attracting daily interest of 2.6% and a 5% surcharge should you not pay everything you owe by the 2nd of March.
So, you won't get the £100 late filing penalty, but your tax return will still be deemed as late.
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