HMRC have advised that they will be late in issuing self-assessment late filing penalty notices this year due to Brexit.
HMRC usually issue the £100 late filing penalty notice for self-assessment returns not filed by January 31 in February.
This means that taxpayers who have missed the filing deadline receive a reminder before daily penalties start to apply on May 1 (3 months after the filing deadline).
This year, due to Brexit and in anticipation of increased demand at their call centres HMRC have warned that:
- They will not be able to issue the £100 penalty notices during the usual time frame as staff will need to be freed up for EU exit related work.
- The latest date that the notices will go out is the end of April, but they will be sent sooner if the Withdrawal Agreement is agreed.
- Daily penalties for returns filed more than three months late are expected to be issued as normal.
- If the notices aren’t sent until the end of April it could be mid-May or later before taxpayers actually receive them.
- This means that some taxpayers may already be incurring daily penalties of £10 per day because their return is over 3 months late, before they have even received their first £100 late filing penalty notice.
It is not known whether HMRC will offer any leniency in assessing daily penalties to take account of the late notification of the £100 penalty.