HMRC’s Chief Executive has confirmed that self-assessment customers who cannot file their tax return by the 31 January 2021 deadline will not receive a late filing penalty if they file online by 28 February 2021.
In the update, it was confirmed that 8.9 million customers have already filed their tax returns and despite the confirmation that late filing penalties will not apply until 28 February 2021, HMRC still encourage returns to be filed by 31 January where possible.
Generally, late filing penalties are applied to returns filed after the 31 January deadline. These penalties can be cancelled if there is a reasonable excuse for late filing. However, this announcement means that HMRC is not issuing late filing penalties for online tax returns received by 28 February 2021. The Chief executive confirmed that this decision was triggered by the pandemic, stating
‘We can reasonably assume most of these people will have a valid reason for filing late, caused by the pandemic.’
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