SPECIAL FEATURE
WHAT NOT TO
SAY TO HMRC
IF YOUR SELF
ASSESSMENT
TAX RETURN
IS LATE
HMRC Publishes its
List of Unreasonable
Excuses of the Decade
» WITH ONLY 10 DAYS UNTIL THE
2018/19 Self Assessment deadline, 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. However, for those
worried their own tax return won’t make
it 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 taxpayers 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 decade. 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) taxpayer
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 unbelievable
excuses always raise a chuckle, HMRC
will also have to wade through the less
fanciful but still unreasonable excuses
for missing the Self Assessment deadline.
74
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-threatening 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 complete 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 disability you
have or being prevented from meeting the
deadline due to a fire, flood or theft.
There are a number of excuses,
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 reasonable
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 failing due to
lack of available funds.
JAN/FEB 2020
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