46 | FEBRUARY 2020
Business
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
WHAT NOT TO SAY TO HMRC IF YOUR
SELF ASSESSMENT TAX RETURN IS LATE
HMRC Publishes its List of
Unreasonable Excuses of the
Decade.
Just a few weeks since the
2018/19 Self Assessment deadline
passed, HMRC has issued its list
of the top unreasonable excuses it
has received from taxpayers trying
to avoid a late filing penalty over
the previous ten years. And, for
those who didn’t (or still haven’t)
got their tax return to HMRC on
time, tax preparation specialist
David Redfern, Managing Director
of DSR Tax Claims Ltd, issues his
own guidance on what HMRC
will consider to be a reasonable
reason for failing to meet the
deadline as well as warning which
excuses won’t fly with HMRC.
Last year, over 700,000 taxpay-
ers out of over 11 million failed
to submit their Self Assessment
tax return by the 31st January
deadline. Due to failing to meet
the deadline, even if only by a
day, they would have faced an
automatic £100 penalty. While
HMRC may allow the penalty to
be appealed if the taxpayer has
a reasonable excuse for failing
to meet the deadline, each year
it receives a large number of
farfetched excuses and this year
published a list of the best ones
received over the previous dec-
ade. These included a taxpayer
whose mother in law had placed
a curse upon them, another who
claimed to be up a mountain in
Wales and unable to reach a post-
box or get an internet signal and
one lucky (or unlucky) taxpay-
er who claimed to be cruising
around the world on a yacht,
unable to pick up post unless on
dry land! Redfern stated “While
these implausible and unbelieva-
ble excuses always raise a chuck-
le, HMRC will also have to wade
through the less fanciful but still
unreasonable excuses for missing
the Self Assessment deadline. If
you miss the deadline and are
issued with an automatic penalty,
HMRC will consider your excuse
if it deems it to be reasonable
- but excuses far less ludicrous
than the ones listed may still be
deemed unreasonable if HMRC
believes you have not taken
suitable measures to meet the
deadline”.
HMRC recognises that there
may be occasions when taxpayers
fail to meet the deadline through
no fault of their own and for
this reason, it will accept what it
deems to be a reasonable excuse
for failing to meet the deadline.
Redfern explained “Sometimes
life gets in the way of our best
intentions and HMRC, as an
organisation, recognises this so
there are some reasons for late
filing which will be accepted by
HMRC, such as the death of a
close relative shortly before the
deadline, a serious or life-threat-
ening illness or an unexpected
stay in hospital, or the failure of
your computer or software just
as you were preparing your tax
return. If you can demonstrate to
HMRC that you fully intended to
meet your taxpayer obligations
but were unable to do so, they
have the capacity to quash your
penalty. However, this doesn’t
mean you don’t have to com-
plete your tax return - you are
still expected to do so as soon as
you possibly can”. Other excuses
deemed to be reasonable include
issues relating to HMRC’s online
services, postal delays which
could not have reasonably been
predicted, delays due to a disabil-
ity you have or being prevented
from meeting the deadline due to
a fire, flood or theft.
There are a number of ex-
cuses, however, which will not
be accepted by HMRC. Redfern
stated “If you failed to submit a tax
return because you found HMRC’s
online service too difficult to use,
or you relied on someone else
to submit your Self Assessment
and they failed to do so, these are
not deemed to be good enough
reasons not to have fulfilled your
obligations as a taxpayer. HMRC
starts from the position that your
taxes are your responsibility and
you are expected to make all rea-
sonable provision for submitting a
tax return and making payment for
your tax bill”. Other unacceptable
reasons include not receiving a
reminder from HMRC, making a
mistake on your Self Assessment
tax return and your payment fail-
ing due to lack of available funds.