UK and International Tax news

HMRC Confirms No Late Filing Penalties For Those Who File By 28 February 2022

Thursday 6th January 2022

HMRC has confirmed that Self Assessment taxpayers will not be charged penalties for filing their tax returns after the normal filing date of 31 January 2022 as long as they file by 28 February 2022.

HMRC has announced, that whilst more than 6.5m taxpayers have already filed their 2020/21 tax returns, it is encouraging anyone who has not yet filed their tax return to do so by 31 January, if possible.  Anyone who cannot file their return by the 31 January deadline will not receive a late filing penalty if they file online by 28 February. This waiver is similar to that given last year.

Taxpayers are still obliged to pay their tax bills by 31 January and interest will be charged from 1 February at 2.75% on any outstanding liabilities. Normally a 5% late payment penalty is charged on any unpaid tax that is still outstanding on 3 March.

This year, like last year, HMRC is giving taxpayers more time to pay or set up a payment plan. SA taxpayers will not be charged the 5% late payment penalty if they pay their tax or set up a payment plan by 1 April online at GOV.UK.

Where taxpayers who cannot afford to pay their tax bill on time but apply online to spread their bill over up to 12 months using the Time to Pay option, but they will need to submit their 2020/21 tax return before setting up a time to pay arrangement.  Self Assessment tax bills of up to £30,000 may be spread over and up to 12 monthly instalments.

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