Late self-assessors face £10 daily charges from today

Penalties of £10 a day will today hit taxpayers who still haven’t submitted their 2016/17 self-assessment tax returns, a charity warns.

The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group says the daily penalties will accrue on top of the £100 penalty such taxpayers got for missing the January 31st deadline, because they are now three months’ late.

“For online returns with a 31st January 2018 filing date, that would [mean penalties of £10 a day are levied] …from 1st May 2018,” LITRG said.

“The £10 daily penalties continue to be chargeable for up to 90 days unless the taxpayer submits their return within that time.”

If a tax return for 2016/17 is still unfiled by July 31st 2018, the initial penalty of £100 and the daily £10 penalties will amount to a total of £1,000, in addition to which a further penalty of at least £300 becomes chargeable.

And a further £300 or five per cent of the tax due (whichever is higher) – is added to the taxpayer’s bill if the form remains unfilled 12 months post-deadline.

“Those [taxpayers] who should have registered for Self-Assessment for 2016/17 but have not yet done so, do not fall under this penalty regime,” clarified LITRG’s Robin Williamson.

“Specific rules apply to such ‘failure to notify’ cases – penalties are based on the amount of tax lost as a result of the failure to notify and are stepped according to whether or not the failure is deliberate and the quality of any disclosure.”