As part of EU Exit contingency planning, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced it will delay sending notification of Self Assessment penalties until the end of April, due to the added resource burden caused by Brexit.
£100 penalty notices are normally issued in February for individuals in Self Assessment who have not filed their online return on time (by 31 January). This, the Revenue says, puts considerable demand on their call centres and back offices, as customers contact them to discuss their options.
The Revenue has however this year been forced to delay sending out the penalty notices, as it says it is expecting increased demand on its UK call centres as the UK exits the EU. The delay would release those dealing with penalty payments to focus on “EU Exit related work”.
HMRC has however confirmed that, as per usual, it will continue to issue daily penalties to individuals who have still not filed three months after the deadline and, should a Brexit Withdrawal Agreement be agreed timeously, then the Self Assessment penalty notices will be issued sooner that April.
A record number of taxpayers submitted their tax returns by the 31 January deadline this year; however, there were still 746,000 outstanding at the beginning of this month.
At Beavis Morgan, our diverse team of tax professionals are committed to ensuring that your tax reporting obligations are fully satisfied and that every opportunity to lawfully exploit tax savings is made known to you, restructuring your affairs in a tax effective and efficient way. We will also deal with HMRC on your behalf, so you don’t need to.
If you have any concerns relating to your tax return or wish to discuss your tax affairs in further detail, please contact your usual Beavis Morgan Partner.