Tax Deadline Looms For Paper Filers In UK

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

31 October 2008

As well as it being Halloween, the deadline for taxpayers in the UK filing a self-assessment paper return is fast approaching, falling on October 31 instead of the traditional deadline of January 31 this year for the first time.

The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) is pointing out to taxpayers that they should remember that HMRC needs to receive the return by October 31 -- putting the return in the post by that date will not be sufficient, it warns.

The CIOT is advising taxpayers sending in their paper returns to the tax office as the deadline nears to retain proof of posting, or to keep a note of the time and date the return was delivered to the tax office by hand.

Andrew Hubbard, CIOT Deputy President, said “On 31 October most people are thinking about Halloween. What we don’t want is for people to wake up the following morning in horror that they missed the deadline."

However, tax returns can be still be filed online up to January 31 using HMRC software or third party commercial software – but HMRC software does not cover all cases: in particular, it is not available for partnership or trust returns. Any partnership which misses the October 31 deadline will have to file online using commercial software, which is available for modest amounts from about GBP30, or face a late filing penalty of GBP100 per partner.

The CIOT recently issued a statement about what to do if taxpayers miss the October 31 paper deadline and are subsequently unable to file online (perhaps because of a software failure). These taxpayers should send in a late paper tax return and, where they have a 'reasonable excuse' for being late with their return, taxpayers or their tax adviser can submit a 'reasonable excuse claim' with their return. If this is accepted by HMRC, the treat will be to avoid an automatic late filing penalty.

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