HMRC is reportedly set to impose £100 fines on individuals who have registered for self-assessment, despite them having emailed the tax authority. One taxpayer reached out to This is Money over the festive period, ahead of the looming self-assessment deadline on January 31.
They said: “I have filed a tax return in the past but I took HMRC’s online survey which said I didn’t need to do one for last year. HMRC was putting out public announcements at the time, saying please don’t phone us just fill in an online form if you no longer need to do a tax return, so I did that last Autumn,” They added: “The automated email I got in response said: ‘If your request is successful we will confirm in writing. If your request is not successful we will write and explain the reason why or ask for further information.’
“However, I heard nothing more so I sent a registered letter to HMRC at the end of last year, giving the evidence I’d tried to notify them and saying I didn’t intend to file a return unless they got back to me asap.”
The individual continued: “I’ve still heard nothing, and now I don’t know what to do. Will I be fined £100 even though I’ve done everything I can think of to sort this – except phone HMRC, which they tell us not to do! If I get fined and have to challenge it would I be successful? I’m worried that if it happened and I needed to get an accountant involved to fight it for me that would cost a lot of money..”
HMRC has issued a four-week warning ahead of a significant tax deadline this month. The cut-off for submitting your self-assessment tax return and settling any outstanding amounts is 11:59pm on January 31.
Today, the tax office revealed that 5.4 million Brits still need to finalise and pay their self-assessment. Recent figures show that 24,800 people submitted their returns on New Year’s Day, reports Birmingham Live.