Unfortunately, some people will be receiving Late Filing Penalties form HMRC as they failed to file their Self Assessment Tax Return (SA100), for the period ending 5th April 2009, on time. What you should do if you receive a penalty notice depends on whether you believe you have filed your return in a timely manner or not.

If you did submit your return in time

If you submitted your Self Assessment Tax Return (SA100) in a timely manner, you can appeal against the penalty notice. This must be done in writing within 30 days of the date on Notice Letter. The address to post your appeal to will be on the letter.

It could be advisable to pay the penalty regardless, to avoid interest charges on the Penalty. These will begin to accrue 30 days after the date of the Notice. An appeal will not change this date unless it is successful.

If your appeal is, successful HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will cancel the Penalty and any interest charged. If you have already paid the Penalty, it will be refunded to you along with interest from the date you paid.

If you have not submitted your return

If you have not submitted your return, you should do as soon as possible to avoid further penalties, paying any Penalties and tax owed quickly to avoid interest charges.
If you fail to file your self-assessment tax return (SA100) on time, HMRC can impose a variety of penalties to encourage you to do so. The first being an automatic £100 penalty charge for missing the filing deadline. A further £100 penalty is added if the return is not filed within a further 6 months.  For those that still fail to file, there is a £60 per day fine, imposed until the return is made. If the return is made more than 12 months late, there can be a penalty up to the amount of tax payable for the year in question.

There is one small glimmer of hope. Automatic penalties for a tax year cannot exceed the sum of tax, Class 4 National Insurance contributions and Student Loan Repayments payable on the due date. So if your self assessment tax return is late and the amount outstanding is nil (may be you have paid your tax bill or did not have one) or less than £100 (or less than £200, if this is your second penalty for the tax year) the penalty will be automatically reduced, even to nil if appropriate. If for any reasons the amount of tax and Class 4 National Insurance contributions payable are increased later, the penalty will be increased and interest charged.

If you need help and assistance completing your return please contact Warrington Accountants Moore Hill through the web site or by calling 01925 830830 for a no obligations free discussion of how we can assist you with this or other accounting and taxation issues.