According to research by unbiased.co.uk, who promotes independent financial advice, that taxpayers are set to gift the taxman an unnecessary £487 million this year in fines generated by late returns, miscalculations and surcharges on unpaid tax - £69 million more than estimations for last year.

Failure to get forms to the Revenue by the fast-approaching January 31 deadline will incur an initial £100 late payment charge. Late payers also face a surcharge of five per cent on any amounts still outstanding after 28 days, with persistent non-filers facing daily penalties of up to £60 per day. If the return is still overdue in July, a supplementary penalty of £100 will be added. Furthermore, a penalty of up to £3,000 may be charged for each year in which inadequate records are kept.

David Elms, Chief Executive of Unbiased.co.uk, said: “The taxman is unforgiving towards those who don’t send returns back promptly, so if you’ve received self-assessment forms from the Revenue and haven’t done anything about it, now is the time! Everyone who misses the January 31 deadline is fined £100, so why waste this sum and potentially much more."

The research calculates that money will be wasted in the following three ways:

• £100 million in fines for forms returned past the January 31 deadline


• £319 million through fines for mis-calculations made on tax forms


• £68 million in surcharges for unpaid tax from previous years.

In 2005, it was estimated that 998,000 self-assessment forms were received after the January 31 deadline. Of these, the vast majority incurred a penalty of £100, and many more were subject to further surcharges.

See also: Self assessment deadline a month away - Hardhatter, Jan 2007

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Susie Hughes
The Editor © Hardhatter 2007