Late Filing and Late Payment Penalties to be Waived for One Month for Self Assessment Taxpayers

Late Filing and Late Payment Penalties to be Waived for One Month for Self Assessment Taxpayers

HMRC published today (6 January 2022) the announcement that it will be waiving late filing and late payment penalties for Self Assessment taxpayers for one month, hence giving them more time to complete their 2020/21 tax return and pay any tax that is due. HMRC acknowledges the fact that COVID-19 might be affecting some of the taxpayers’ capacity to file their tax returns by the 31 January deadline, so the penalty waivers will hopefully give taxpayers more time to file the return online and pay the tax due without having to worry about penalties.

Please note that the deadline to file and pay remains 31 January 2022 but the penalty waivers will mean that:

• anyone who cannot file their return by the 31 January deadline will not receive a late filing penalty if they file online by 28 February
• anyone who cannot pay their Self Assessment tax by the 31 January deadline will not receive a late payment penalty if they pay their tax in full, or set up a Time to Pay arrangement, by 1 April

Lucy Frazer, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“We recognise that Omicron is putting people under pressure, so we are giving millions of people more breathing space to manage their tax affairs.

Waiving late filing and payment penalties will help ease financial burdens and protect livelihoods as we navigate the months ahead.”

For the 2020/21 tax return, taxpayers will need to declare if they received any grants or payments from the COVID-19 support schemes up to 5 April 2021 on their Self Assessment, as these are taxable, including:

• Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
• Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
• other COVID-19 grants and support payments such as self-isolation payments, local authority grants and those for the Eat Out to Help Out scheme

Self-Assessment Timeline

• 31 January – Self Assessment deadline (filing and payment)
• 1 February – interest accrues on any outstanding tax bills
• 28 February – last date to file any late online tax returns to avoid a late filing penalty
• 1 April – last date to pay any outstanding tax or make a Time to Pay arrangement, to avoid a late payment penalty
• 1 April – last date to set up a self-serve Time to Pay arrangement online

HMRC is encouraging taxpayers to file and pay on time if they can, as the department reveals that, of the 12.2 million taxpayers who need to submit their tax return by 31 January 2022, almost 6.5 million have already done so.

Note: This information was published on the HMRC website on 6 January 2022. You can read the full article HERE

If you have any Tax-related questions or would like to get in touch, please send our dedicated Tax team an email at TaxTeam@elmanwall.co.uk or alternatively, give us a call on 020 7600 5667.