Pictured above: Paul Bulzacchelli
The 6th April this year sees HM Revenue & Customs enforce
new penalties for filing a late self-assessment tax return and for
making a late payment.
Paul Bulzacchelli, managing director at Lichfield based Inspired
Accountants commented: "The new tax year brings with it harsher
fines and penalties from HMRC as they believe the former £100
penalty failed to act as a big enough deterrent. The new penalty
increases over time and so is designed to get people to submit
self-assessment tax returns as soon as possible, as the greater the
delay, the greater the penalty."
Under the previous system the maximum penalty for filing a late
self-assessment tax return was £100, with interest being
added on the outstanding tax payment.
The new system charges £100 on the first day of late
submission with a daily penalty of £10 per day being charged
after three months. Further penalties will be incurred if the
self-assessment tax return is outstanding after six months and then
a year later, with a maximum penalty of £1,300 now possible
of being incurred. The penalties for the late payment of tax
include an initial penalty of five percent of the unpaid tax after
30 days and further penalties at six months and a year if it
remains unpaid.
Paul Bulzacchelli concluded: "Penalties will be automatically
sent to all self-assessment taxpayers who do not file and pay on
time. Taxpayers will be able to appeal against a penalty on the
grounds that they have a reasonable excuse for not complying on
time.
"I would strongly recommend that anyone needing to complete and
submit a self-assessment tax return to seek advice from a chartered
accountant, to not only ensure they comply with filing and payment
deadlines, but to ensure that they do not pay any more income tax
than is necessary."
Inspired Accountants provide a comprehensive range of
accountancy and advisory services to individuals, self employed
people, partnerships and limited companies. The practice was
originally established in 1968 with Inspired Accountants Ltd being
launched as its new company name and brand in January 2011.