Individuals who have not yet filed their 2011 tax returns have until midnight on 31st January 2012 to do so. There will be no day's grace as has been the case in previous years.
Those who miss the filing deadline will face a tougher penalty system this time round with penalties being applied in the following situations;
- An initial £100 fixed penalty for submitting your tax return late even if you have no additional tax to pay. In previous years this fine was waived if no tax was unpaid as at 31st January.
- An additional daily penalty of £10 per day for up to 90 days where the return is over 3 months late.
- After 6 months, a further penalty of 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is the greater.
- After 12 months, another 5% or £300, whichever is the greater. In serious cases, the penalty after 12 months can be up to 100% of the tax due.
New penalties also apply to tax paid late, of 5% of the tax unpaid at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months.
Anyone who is required to file a tax return but has not yet registered for online filing needs to do so immediately, as HMRC advise that it may take up to 10 days to process the registration and a return cannot be electronically filed until this has been done.
Last year nearly 7 million people filed online by the 31st January deadline, representing around 78% of all returns submitted. 845 people filed their returns on Christmas Day, 2,408 on Boxing Day, 16,230 on New Years Eve and 5,130 on New Years Day. The busiest day for electronic filing was 31st January when a record of 572,455 were submitted online.
According to HMRC, 10 million people are required to complete tax returns for the tax year 2010/11.
For many people enjoying an extended Christmas holiday break and with some time on their hands, it may be worthwhile getting that 2011 tax return completed and filed to save sweating it out in late January. Let's face it, you’re not missing anything on telly!
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