HMRC delays self-assessment penalty notices

If you were late to submit your tax return this year but have not received the penalty yet and hope HMRC has forgotten about you, please continue reading this.

This year HMRC has made the decision to delay the notices until the end of April at latest, because it is expecting Brexit to cause increased demand in its call centres.

As part of EU Exit contingency planning, HMRC has decided to make a change to the timings for sending notification of Self Assessment penalties. £100 penalty notices are normally issued in February for individuals in Self Assessment who have not filed their online return on time (by 31 January). This creates considerable demand into HMRC call centres and back offices, as customers contact them to consider their options.

This year, HMRC expects an increased demand in their call centres as the UK leaves the EU, so they intend to delay the issue of these notices to ensure they can provide the best service to their customers. This will release those staff for EU Exit related work.

Individuals who filed late will still be charged the penalty; but the notice will be delivered later than normal. HMRC will issue daily penalties to individuals who have still not filed three months after the deadline, in appropriate cases, at the normal time.

The latest date that the notices will go out is the end of April, but they will go out sooner if the Withdrawal Agreement is agreed.

In a statement on the timings of notices, HMRC confirmed that "individuals who filed late will still be charged the penalty; but the notice will be delivered later than normal".