If you haven’t paid what you owe within 30 days of the filing date of your self-assessment return for that year, you’ll be charged a penalty. The good news is that HMRC has relaxed this rule for the 2019/20 tax year. What’s the full story?
HMRC has announced that self-assessment taxpayers won’t be charged the automatic 5% late payment penalty if they pay what they owe for 2019/20 or set up a payment plan by 1 April 2021.
Normally, a 5% late payment penalty is charged on any unpaid tax that is still outstanding on 3 March following the end of the tax year. But this year, because of the impact of the pandemic, HMRC is giving taxpayers more time to pay or set up a payment plan.
Note that HMRC will stick to the normal rule of charging interest at 2.6% per annum for all self-assessment bills not paid on time.
You can pay your tax bill or set up a monthly payment plan here. You need to do this by midnight on 1 April to prevent being charged a late payment penalty.
This article has been reproduced by kind permission of Indicator – FL Memo Ltd. For details of their tax-saving products please visit www.indicator-flm.co.uk or call 01233 653500.