Self-assessment - as you were!
Escaping a penalty. If you’re late submitting your self-assessment (SA)tax return, you will be fined £100. That’s old news. But if you thought you might miss the deadline, October 31 for the paper version or January 31 online, you could escape a penalty by paying the Taxman enough to cover the tax you owed by the January deadline. But this loophole was closed by the Finance Act 2009 (FA 2009), or so we thought.
As you were! There’s no doubt that FA 2009 changes the SA penalty rules and will close the loophole mentioned above. But the small print says that the new law won’t take effect until the Treasury says so. They were expected to do this in this year’s Finance Act, but they didn’t! That means that you can still escape a penalty if you’re late with your 2009/10 SA, as long as what you owe for that year is paid by January 31 2011.
Tip. If you’re going to miss the SA deadline but don’t know exactly how much tax you owe, make an estimate and pay this by January 31. Aim on the high side but don’t go over the top. Don’t forget you’ll also need to make a payment on account for 2010/11 at the same time.
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