No penalties for some late Self Assessment returns

HMRC have announced that more than 10 million tax returns were filed on time meeting the 31 January deadline.

Approximately 8.5 million returns were filed online with the rest being paper filed. Perhaps not surprisingly the busiest day for tax return submission was 31 January when HMRC received over half a million returns.

For those failing to meet the deadline there is an automatic £100 late filing penalty regardless of whether the tax has been paid on time or indeed there is a refund due. Further penalties may also be imposed for continued failure to submit the return.

It has been widely reported that HMRC would not be charging penalties where returns were submitted before midnight on 15 February 2014. However this 'reprieve' only applies in limited circumstances as set out in the following HMRC statement:

'We haven't extended the Self Assessment deadline. Tax returns and any tax due must be received by HMRC by midnight tonight 31 January.

If someone has registered for our Online Service or existing customers have lost their User ID or password and realise they have left it too late we will allow a bit of extra time for this information to be received. This only applies to taxpayers who did the following between midnight on 21 January and midnight on 31 January 2014:

• enrolled for the Self Assessment online service, or
• requested a replacement user ID or password'

If you are one of the half a million people who have not yet submitted your self assessment return and you would like some help please do get in touch.

Internet link: Gov news