SA Late filing penalties

We warned you in our newsletter on 28 February 2019, that HMRC had delayed issuing the late filing penalties for the 2017/18 self-assessment tax returns this year, due to Brexit related pressures on staff time.

Well the Brexit issue is still not resolved, but HMRC has started to issue those late filing penalties. HMRC has said it will take until 12 April 2019 (the new Brexit day), to issue all the penalties, which will give taxpayers at least two weeks to submit their 2017/18 SA return before daily £10 penalties start to apply from 1 May 2019.

If you receive a late filing penalty, but its not due as the return was submitted on time, the best way to get it removed is to ring HMRC. Where you believe you had a reasonable excuse for not filing your SA return on time, the appeal should be submitted within 30 days of the date of the penalty notice.

A reasonable excuse needs to be in place for the majority of the period in which the taxpayer was trying to file the return, and the return must be filed as soon as possible after the source of the reasonable excuse was removed. A serious illness throughout January 2019 may be accepted as a reasonable excuse, but if HMRC does not accept it as such the taxpayer will have to explain to the tax tribunal why he did not file the return earlier.

However, where the taxpayer did not know he had to file a SA return as the notice to file was not sent to his correct address, that could amount to a reasonable excuse. Receiving incorrect advice from HMRC about whether a return is due can also be accepted as a reasonable excuse.

Written by the Tax Advice Network