If you miss the Self Assessment filing deadline from this year (i.e. 2010-11 tax returns onwards) you will be immediately liable for late filing penalties. The penalty will apply even if there is no liability or if any tax due is paid in full by 31 January 2012 which wasn’t the case in previous years.
These new penalties will apply to all Self Assessment tax returns from 2010-11 onwards.
The filing deadlines themselves remain unchanged at:
• paper return filing deadline is 31 October 2011.
• online returns filing deadline is 31 January 2012.
The new penalty regime applies to:
• paper returns received on or after 1 November 2011.
• online returns received on or after 1 February 2012.
The penalties for paper returns apply 3 months earlier than online filers.
All the more reason to file your tax return online! Here at Lions Accountants we file client tax returns online as standard.
|
Length of delay |
Penalty you will have to pay |
Date applies Paper return |
Date applies Online return |
| 1 day late | A fixed penalty of £100. This applies even if you have no tax to pay or have paid the tax you owe. | 1 Nov 2011 | 1 Feb 2012 |
| 3 months late | £10 for each following day – up to a 90 day maximum of £900. This is as well as the fixed penalty above. | 1 Feb 2012 | 1 May 2012 |
| 6 months late | £300 or 5% of the tax due, whichever is the higher. This is as well as the penalties above. | 1 May 2012 | 1 Aug 2012 |
| 12 months late | £300 or 5% of the tax due, whichever is the higher. In serious cases you may be asked to pay up to 100% of the tax due instead. These are as well as the penalties above. |
1 Nov 2012 | 1 Feb 2013 |
Example: A tax return filed six months late could attract a penalty of at least £1,300 as follows:
Mrs A’s tax return is due on 31 January 2012 but HMRC don’t receive it until 5 August 2012.
It is over six months late so she will have to pay all of the following:
- £100 fixed penalty
- £900 penalty – this is £10 each day from 1 May to 29 July, when the maximum 90 day penalty is reached.
- £300 or 5 per cent of the tax due – whichever is the higher
And, remember this applies even if there is no tax due which is a major change from previous tax years.
Have you a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline?
You won’t have to pay a penalty if you have a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline. For example, there may have been an exceptional or unexpected event, beyond your control, that meant you couldn’t send your return on time. In this case, you must send your return as soon as possible once the problem ends. There are no hard and fast rules and each case is considered individually but some examples of what HMRC may consider a reasonable excuse are:
- documents lost through theft, fire or flood that you can’t replace in time
- life-threatening illness, for example a heart attack that prevents you dealing with your tax affairs
- death of a partner shortly before the deadline
- industrial action by Royal Mail over a lengthy period of time
- issues with the online service, with no work-round – you’ll need to provide the error message you received