HB Accountants

May

New penalties for late filing of personal tax returns

If you are late in filing your tax return for the year ended 5 April 2011 it could prove very expensive.

Assuming you file electronically, the filing deadline is 31 January 2012.

If you are just one day late in filing you will be fined £100 (even if you don’t owe any tax or are due a repayment).  After three further months you will be charged a DAILY penalty of £10, up to a maximum of £900.  After six months there will be a further penalty equal to the GREATER of £300 and 5% of the tax due.  After twelve months there is another penalty equal to the GREATER of £300 and 5% of the tax due.  In serious cases you could be fined up to 100% of the tax due.

There are also further penalties for late payment of tax.  We already have penalties of 5% for being one month late and again for being six months late in paying.  There is now a further 5% charge if you are twelve months late.  These are in addition to the interest which will be charged on outstanding tax, and just to add further encouragement you should note that interest is charged on penalties!

The message seems to be “Please file your tax return and pay your tax on time”!

back to top