If you are slow in submitting your tax returns, you will get a late filing penalty. Say you miss the deadline for filing your self-assessment tax return (31 January for online filing) you will be charged a £100 penalty. Where the tax return is for a partnership, each partner must pay £100.

If the return is filed more than three months late an additional £10 per day is charged, and after six months another penalty is imposed as the higher of £300 or 5% of the tax due. Those penalties will stand even if the tax return shows no tax is payable.

A similar £100 penalty applies for a late corporation tax return, which is due a year after the end of the accounting period. If you make a habit of submitting late company returns, the penalties rise to £500 each time.

The penalties for paying VAT late can amount to up to 15% of the delayed payment, even if it arrived only one day late.

Pay attention to any electronic warning notices from HMRC about penalties due for late filing or late payment.

If you have a ‘reasonable excuse’ you may escape the penalty, but it has got to be a pretty good one. Fire, flood, plague and death of a close relative may be accepted, lack of funds will not.

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We can help you file on time, if you respond to us promptly.