Late Tax Return And Penalties Explained

Missed the tax return deadline?

If you miss the deadline for filing your UK tax return online, or paying your bill, you could face harsh penalties.

Penalties for filing your tax return late

You will be fined if you miss HMRC’s tax return deadlines – and under the new rules introduced last year the penalties can be high.

If you miss the final deadline to file your 2014-15 return HMRC will charge you £100.

If your return is still outstanding three months later, you’ll also be charged £10 a day - up to a 90-day maximum of £900. After six months, you face an extra charge of £300 or 5% of the tax due. If a full year goes past you will be fined another £300 or 5% of the tax due. You may be asked to pay up to 100% of the tax due instead of this, but you will still have to pay all the other charges.

Late payment penalties

Things only get worse if you also fail to pay your tax bill on time. The deadline for paying tax for the 2014-15 tax year is 31 January 2016. If you miss this deadline you’ll be charged interest from the date the payment was due. The interest rate varies – you can check the current rate payable on HMRC’s website.

If any of the tax bill remains unpaid by 28 February 2016, you’ll be charged a 5% surcharge. An additional 5% is imposed on any of the tax bill which is unpaid by 31 July 2016.

So, it is important to to get your late tax return filed with HMRC as soon as you can after the deadline to avoid further harsh penalties.