HMRC suspends late Tax Return penalties until 28th February 2022
HMRC has announced that anyone who is unable to submit their personal tax return by the 31st January 2022 deadline will not be charged a late filing penalty as long as they file their self-assessment tax return online before the 28th February 2022
According to the HMRC, it has been monitoring Self-assessment Tax Return submissions and has noticed an increase in cases of taxpayers being unable to submit theirs on time.
HMRC has therefore decided to waive late filing penalties for individuals who can submit their return online before the end of February.
There has been no change to the payment deadline; you must still pay your tax bill by January 31st 2022. Any tax owing on or after February 1st 2022, will be subject to a rate of 2.75% per annum, but there is a relaxation: if you pay your tax in full or set up a Time To Pay arrangement by April 1st no late payment penalty will apply.
If you wish to submit an application online to spread your tax payment out over a twelve-month period, you must complete and submit your 2020-21 tax return before establishing a Time To Pay arrangement.
If your tax liability is less than £30,000 on 31st January 2022, you will be able to use HMRC's self-service Time To Pay option to establish a payment plan in order to spread it out over the following year.
To set up your own self-serve Time To Pay arrangement, you must fulfil the following conditions:
- Have no outstanding Self-assessment Tax Returns
- You don't have any outstanding tax debts.
- Your tax bill is between £32 - £30,000
- You don't have any HMRC payments set up already
- It has been more than 60 days since your tax was past due
We understand that a tax return must be submitted online at least 48 hours before attempting to set up a payment plan so HMRC can update its systems.
You'll need to set up these online payment arrangements yourself because your accountant isn't able to do so on your behalf.
If you do not fulfil these criteria, you might still be eligible for Time To Pay if you call HMRC to set it up.
You can call HMRC tax helpline number on 0345 300 3900 to speak to a tax officer from HMRC.
