HMRC letting taxpayers off £100 fines with these 10 'reasonable excuses'

A reasonable excuse is something that stopped you meeting a tax obligation that you took reasonable care to meet.
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


HMRC has shared 10 excuses which will let you off a £100 fine for missing the self-assessment deadline. A reasonable excuse is something that stopped you meeting a tax obligation that you took reasonable care to meet.

Examples from HMRC include your partner or another close relative died shortly before the tax return or payment deadline and you had an unexpected stay in hospital that prevented you from dealing with your tax affairs.

Other examples include you had a serious or life-threatening illness, or your computer or software failed just before or while you were preparing your online return, or service issues with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) online services.

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Another excuse was a fire, flood or theft prevented you from completing your tax return, as well as postal delays that you could not have predicted, delays related to a disability or mental illness you have and you were unaware of or misunderstood your legal obligation.

Another example is if you relied on someone else to send your return, and they did not. An estimated 1.1 million people missed the deadline for filing their annual tax returns, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

They now face a penalty of at least £100 for missing the cut-off at the end of the day on Friday, the tax authority has said, unless they can provide a valid excuse for failing to file. More than 11.5 million people did complete the self-assessment process, including more than 31,000 who finished it during the final hour before the deadline.

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People who are self-employed or who have more than one source of income are among those required to file a tax return every year. It comes after HMRC recently denied running a "deliberately poor" phone service in an attempt to push taxpayers to seek help online instead.

Chief executive Jim Harra said the claims by a committee of MPs about its customer service were "completely baseless".