HMRC have advised that they will be late in issuing self-assessment late filing penalty notices this year due to Brexit.
HMRC usually issue the £100 late filing penalty notice for self-assessment returns not filed by 31 January in February. This means that taxpayers who have missed the filing deadline receive a reminder before daily penalties start to apply on 1 May (3 months after the filing deadline).
This year, due to Brexit and in anticipation of increased demand at their call centres HMRC have warned that:
- They will not be able to issue the £100 penalty notices during the usual time frame as staff will need to be freed up for EU exit related work.
- The latest date that the notices will go out is the end of April, but they will be sent sooner if the Withdrawal Agreement is agreed.
- Daily penalties for returns filed more than three months late are expected to be issued as normal.
If the notices aren’t sent until the end of April it could be mid-May or later before taxpayers actually receive them. This means that some taxpayers may already be incurring daily penalties of £10 per day because their return is over 3 months late, before they have even received their first £100 late filing penalty notice.
It is not known whether HMRC will offer any leniency in assessing daily penalties to take account of the late notification of the £100 penalty.
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