Half a million tax return fines issued

HMRC has issued around 500,000 penalties to taxpayers who failed to submit a self-assessment tax return.Each penalty will be at least £1,200, made up of £900 in daily fines, as well as a late-filing fine of £300 or 5 per cent of the tax owed. Figures show that the number of penalties issued has fallen since last year.The latest fines are in addition to the £100 fines for missing the submission deadline – these were issued in February and March this year.HMRC has said that in some cases, it’s possible that the fine will be waived for those who can prove that there is a reasonable excuse for non-submission, such as a family illness.A HMRC spokesperson said, "We want the returns, not the penalties. This year, half a million more people have filed their return - which means we are issuing 44 per cent fewer penalties. But despite several reminders, nearly 6 per cent of people have not sent their 2010/11 tax returns to us and they will be getting a penalty.”They added, “We recognise that there will be some people within this group who do not need to be in self-assessment, and we will be happy to remove them from the system and cancel their penalty."

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