Self Assessment Penalties

Your personal self-assessment tax return for the tax year to 5 April must be submitted to HMRC by 31 January of the following year, or by 31 October of the current year if it is submitted in paper form. These deadlines also apply to your separate partnership tax return where you are a member of a partnership.

Previously you would receive a penalty of £100 if you submitted it later than those dates, but that penalty would be reduced to nil if you were due a tax repayment, however, that is no longer the case, if your Self Assessment Tax Return is late or your tax payment is late then you will be subject to a HMRC penalty notice.

As well as the initial £100 penalty, there are additional penalties!

Here are some of the most common HMRC Self Assessment penalties:

• Late filing penalty: If you file your Self Assessment tax return late, you may be charged a penalty of £100. This penalty will increase to £300 if you file your return more than 6 months late.

• Late payment penalty: If you pay your tax late, you will be charged interest on the unpaid amount. You may also be charged a penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax, or £300, whichever is greater.

• Inaccurate return penalty: If you make a mistake on your Self Assessment tax return, you may be charged a penalty of up to 100% of the tax you owe. The amount of the penalty will depend on the severity of the mistake.

• Deliberate default penalty: If you deliberately try to avoid paying tax, you may be charged a penalty of up to 200% of the tax you owe.

If you are facing a HMRC penalty, you should contact them as soon as possible to discuss your options. You may be able to get a penalty reduced if you can show that there were reasonable grounds for the late filing or payment.

When a partnership tax return is submitted late those penalties apply to each partner in the partnership.

If you are also late in paying the correct amount of tax you will receive a penalty for paying the tax late. These penalties are calculated as 5% of the outstanding tax due at the following intervals: 30 days late, 6 months late, and 12 months late.

In view of these high penalties we must work with you to get your tax bill calculated in good time, so you can make the correct payments due and get your return submitted on time.

PGA Tax Returns provide a full self-assessment service to individuals, landlords and anyone else who needs to submit a self-assessment tax return. Our prices are a Fixed Fee of just £149 inc vat so you can be sure that you are receiving a quality service at value for money prices.