If you’ve been self-employed for a while, you probably don’t need us to tell you just how important it is to file your Self-Assessment Tax Return on time. For those of you new to the self-employed party, the all-important date you want to mark your diaries with is 31st January. Filing after this date means you’ll be officially classified as late and can result in quite a few penalties. To avoid finding yourself on HMRC’s blacklist, it’s always best to stay organised and file well before the due date.
Having said that, we know that sometimes that’s just not possible. So, what to do if you find you’ve missed the tax deadline? Sometimes, for reasons out of your control, you’ll have to resort to filing past due tax returns. Thankfully, HMRC understand this too and so allow for certain ‘reasonable excuses’ to be declared. If you match these criteria and your appeal is successful, you may be able to avoid a late filing penalty from HMRC.
In this blog, we’ve put together some key information you need to know for when it comes to filing a tax return late and the penalty on late tax filing.
Reasonable excuses for filing your taxes late
Some examples of reasonable excuses include family bereavement, unplanned hospital stays, fires and floods, or issues with HMRC’s online services. You can see a full list of reasonable excuses here.
What you want to do is avoid making up reasons which aren’t plausible and can land you in more trouble. HMRC released a list of some of the more colourful excuses people claimed prevented them from completing their tax returns on time last year. Here’s a few of our favourites:
- I’ve been far too busy touring the country with my one-man play.
- My bad back means I can’t go upstairs, that’s where my tax return is.
- A wasp in my car caused me to have an accident and my tax return, which was inside, was destroyed.
- I work for myself, but a colleague borrowed my tax return to photocopy it and lost it.
- I couldn’t complete my tax return because my husband left me and took our accountant with him.
It’s important to be honest about the reason for your late filing or you could end up getting yourself into a pickle, an expensive one at that.
Penalties for late tax filing
Exactly how much are we talking here? Well, it all depends on timescales.
The first thing to note is that a late tax return means you get an instant penalty of £100. This penalty applies even if you have no tax to pay or if the tax due is paid on time after three months.
In some cases, a fine for late tax return can grow into several additional penalties. If your tax return becomes three months late, you’ll be liable to pay £10 per day up to a 90-day maximum of £900. At the six months mark, you’ll have to pay a further penalty of 5% of tax due or £300 (whichever is greater). Then, if your tax return is more than 12 months late, you’ll get another 5% or £300 fine depending again on the overall greater sum.
You can find out more about late filing penalties here.
Help with your tax return
In other words, the longer you leave it, the more money it’ll cost you in the long run. If your tax return is late, HMRC might not buy that your kids drawing all over your paperwork is what prevented you from sending it off.
The best thing you can do is get to work and aim to file your tax return as quickly as possible, even if it is after the deadline.
That’s where we come in
The experts at baa accounting can help you take the hassle out of completing your tax return and claiming your tax rebate. You can sleep soundly knowing we make sure everything meets statutory requirements and you never miss an important date with Companies House and HMRC. With us, your paperwork is in safe hands. Take a look for yourself right here.
We also run an express late filing service for when you’re up against the clock. With a speedy 48-hour turnaround, we’ll take the pressure off you and ensure everything is in order ready for submission. Check out our late filing service info here.
Get in touch
Get us involved and we guarantee you’ll never break out in a sweat over late tax filing again. To find out all you need to know about our services, get in touch with one of our dedicated team members on 0208 570 1750 or request a callback.
