As one of life’s few certainties, most people are familiar with dealing with taxes. Tax is generally automatically deducted from your wages, pensions and savings. However, people and businesses with other income must make sure they report this in a tax return. The majority of our clients fall into this category; so this blog aims to offer some helpful advice regarding your tax return and the imminent deadline for submission.
If you know you need to submit a tax return, you should be aware that the deadline for doing so is Wednesday 31st January 2018. If you are late in submitting your return, you will be incur an initial £100 late penalty fee, which will increase the longer submission remains late. If you have submitted a partnership tax return late, all partners can be charged a penalty fee. We must urge all our clients to endeavor to provide us with the information necessary to complete their tax returns, for now and in the future, to avoid these charges. Furthermore, if you have received a tax return from us by Signable, our handy online system for signing documents, by email, or by post – for your own interests, please review and sign. The clock is ticking!
Ominous warnings aside, if you fail to submit your tax return by the deadline and you have a reasonable excuse for this, such as:
- Death of a partner or close relative
- Serious/life threatening illness or sudden stay in hospital
- Fire, flood or theft
- Computer/software/service issues
(An exhaustive list is available at https://www.gov.uk/tax-appeals/reasonable-excuses)
HMRC will permit you to lodge an appeal against any penalties imposed. However, as evidenced above, the reasons for late submission must be serious and you cannot base an appeal because you forgot the deadline was imminent, or you found the process too difficult, for instance. If HMRC send you a penalty letter for late submission, you can use the appeal form that comes with it or follow the instructions on the letter provided. You can also contact HMRC by phone or online for assistance regarding an appeal, but you must ensure you lodge your appeal within 30 days of the initial penalty notice.
Hopefully this advice will not apply to many of our clients, but if you do find yourself dealing with tax return deadline related stress, rest assured, there are options and we still have time to get everything submitted before the deadline!
If anyone is struggling, or wish to seek any tax related advice, please feel free to call us on 0800 020 9542 or send us an email hello@jacrox.co
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