You’ve missed the tax deadline and ended up with a £100 fine, now what?

Don’t worry if you missed the tax deadline, you are not alone. There is set to be a record number of businesses facing the £100 fine this year.

This is not to say that we recommend you miss the deadline, in fact going forward we encourage you to get ahead of the deadline to avoid any further sleepless nights, stress or financial penalties associated with being late.

What happens after the deadline?

On day one you will automatically have to pay a £100 fine regardless of whether you owe money on your tax or not. From there it all depends on how long you fail to file but the longer you wait the larger the sums of money will amount to on top of the amount owed.

What are the financial implications going forward?

One Day Late – you will automatically pay the £100 fine.

Three Months Late – you will automatically pay the £100 fine, plus £10 a day up to 90 days.

Six Months Late – you will automatically pay the £100 fine, £10 a day up to 90 days plus either a £300 fine or 5% of what you owe, depending on which is higher.

12 Months Late – you will automatically pay the £100 fine, £10 a day up to 90 days, either a £300 fine or 5% of what you owe, depending on which is higher plus another £300 or another 5% of the total owed.

So all in all it pays to act quickly to avoid further penalties against you.

I do have an excuse, will the taxman let me off?

According to HMRC, they may accept one of the following excuses if you are late. However please note that this may not be guaranteed as HMRC will review each case separately.

• the recent death of a partner
• an unexpected stay in hospital
• computer failures
• service issues with the tax authority’s online services
• a fire which prevented the completion of a tax return or postal delays

What if I have another excuse?

If your excuse is not in line with those above, I would think again before approaching the taxman. In short they receive all sorts of excuses and below we have outlined the top 10 as said to the taxman.

1. “My tax return was on my yacht…which caught fire”
2. “A wasp in my car caused me to have an accident and my tax return, which was inside, was destroyed”
3. “My wife helps me with my tax return, but she had a headache for ten days”
4. “My dog ate my tax return…and all of the reminders”
5. “I couldn’t complete my tax return, because my husband left me and took our accountant with him. I am currently trying to find a new accountant”
6. “My child scribbled all over the tax return, so I wasn’t able to send it back”
7. “I work for myself, but a colleague borrowed my tax return to photocopy it and lost it”
8. “My husband told me the deadline was the 31 March”
9. “My internet connection failed”
10. “The postman doesn’t deliver to my house”

Rather than waste time coming up with wild and ridiculous excuses, we recommend you put the time to good use and get on with filing your return.

This year was a nightmare how can I ensure I meet the deadline going forward?

We know that running a business, doing the day to day work and looking after your family is a stressful time in itself without having to meet deadlines that have a penalty attached. But as you can see from the information above the longer you leave it the more stressful the situation will become. So to avoid sleepless nights, working harder at the weekends and causing yourself more stress why not hand your accounts over to someone that can help.

Boffix only charges you £10 per month to manage your Tax Return Affairs. That’s about the third of the price of a cinema ticket or a pizza in a restaurant. For £10 we will remove the stress, keep you up to date on your obligations and help you not only meet deadlines but get yourself ahead. This year you may have paid a £100 fine, make sure you just pay £20 extra and your problem has gone away.