| It will come as little
surprise that, once again, an HMRC online
system crashed an important time of year.
This time it was the self assessment
online service that was disrupted on 31
January 2008 and 1 February 2008. In
response to these problems, HMRC have
announced that any return (whether online
or paper) received by midnight on 1
February 2008 would be treated as filed on
time and so no penalty will be issued.
In addition, where taxpayers
experienced problems with the service and
were unable to file by midnight on 1
February 2008, HMRC will remove any late
filing penalty and treat the return as
filed on time where the problems with the
HMRC service were the cause of the delay
and the return was filed within a
reasonable period afterwards.
In addition, penalty notices should not
be issued for:
- online returns filed using the HMRC
software on 2 and 3 February 2008; and
- paper returns received in local
offices by close of business on 4
February 2008.
Finally, where a return is filed within
a reasonable period and the delay was due
to the problems with the HMRC service,
HMRC will also remove the penalty for
online returns filed on 4 February 2008,
or later, and paper returns filed on 5
February 2008, or later.
As previously mentioned, it is not
unusual for HMRC penalties to be issued in
error. If this is the case or if there is
a reasonable excuse for the delay in
sending in the return, penalties can be
reduced or even waived altogether.
If you receive a penalty notice that
you believe is wrong, please get in touch
with us as soon as possible so we can
resolve the matter for you.
Internet link:
HMRC advice |
