Taxman won't fine late self-assessment returns affected by strike
HMRC says it won't penalise people who are unable to get through to helplines due to strike action on tax deadline day.
HMRC has admitted that a planned strike by staff on Tuesday (31st January) means it won't fine people who file their tax return on Wednesday and Thursday.
The walkout over alleged plans to outsource some HMRC work to private companies is almost certain to affect self-assessment helplines to some extent.
A spokesperson for HMRC told us: “If people try to get through on Tuesday with a technical question but are unable to get through because of the strike, we won’t fine them. It will count as a ‘reasonable excuse’ but they will need to appeal their fine and say that they tried to contact us but couldn’t on the form when they appeal.”
However, if you can't get through, you should make every effort to submit your return by the end of Thursday or you will face a fine.
As of today, it’s estimated that 2.7 million people still have to file their self-assessment tax returns. And 600,000 people are expected to leave it until Tuesday to file. Based on previous tax deadline days, around 90,000 of those people are likely to have a query of some sort.
HMRC has got a lot tougher on self-assessment tax returns this year. It has pledged to fine everyone who has been asked to file a return but submits it late, even if they don’t have any tax to pay.
More: How to get your self-assessment tax return right | How the taxman could be misleading you
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Entirely unreasonable. Unless HMRC are prepared to pay everyone the daily interest on their refunds at, say, 15% (still cheaper than most credit cards) for each day after 31st Jan that their refunds are delayed, they have no business to fine anyone for a late return, let alone those who don't owe them anything. Appalling to put someone in debt for any administrative whim. Better for no return to be a presumption of no tax to pay, then later discovery of tax owed to be heavily fined. It's big brother tactics for you to be fined even when you don't owe anything.
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26 January 2012