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The amount received by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in fines from those who failed to file their self-assessment tax return on time rose last year to a five-year high.
The figures, obtained by the Financial Times under freedom of information laws, showed that £220mn was collected by HMRC in late filing penalties in the 2022-23 financial year, up from £185mn in 2021-22.
The figures brought the total amount HMRC has received in late-filing fines to £980mn since 2018-19.
Tax experts said the rising figures were partly due to the freezing of income tax thresholds from 2022, meaning many individuals who previously did not need to file a return now must do so.
Dan Neidle, founder of the Tax Policy Associates think-tank, said that many of those who now need to pay tax are on very low incomes, often just exceeding the £12,500 tax-free personal allowance threshold.
“Many people on low incomes have difficult lives, often with mental and physical disabilities. They’re hard to reach with traditional information campaigns [reminding them to file a return]. But the system doesn’t account for that,” he said.
Neidle’s comments were echoed by Ray McCann, former president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, who said: “The fundamental problem is that there are far too many people in self assessment and getting a return in on time is difficult for many of them.
“In many cases, the individual may not even realise they needed to file,” he added.
McCann argued HMRC should invest the windfall received through the fines into research to uncover why returns are filed late and ensure more individuals filed on time.
Those who miss the filing deadline are immediately hit with a £100 penalty, before HMRC subsequently increases the fine by £10 a day for the next 90 days until submission.
If an individual has still not filed within six months of the deadline, they are charged at 5 per cent of the tax owed, or £300, whichever is greater. The same penalties are again applied if the document is still not submitted 12 months after the required filing date.
HMRC said it delivered a fully integrated external campaign including direct communications such as emails, letters, texts, to help ensure customers file their return within the deadline.
Figures published by the tax authority in February 2024 showed that 1.1mn people missed the filing deadline for returns from 2022-23, even as a record 12.2mn filed on time.
Andrew Park, tax investigations partner at accounting firm Price Bailey, said that fiscal drag — the effect of frozen tax thresholds combined with rising wages — had “certainly been a factor” in requiring more people to file a return.
Park hoped that a decision made by HMRC in May 2023 to increase the earnings threshold at which individuals who only receive a pay-as-you-earn salary must file a tax return would reduce the numbers of those fined.
Previously, those who received a sole income of over £100,000 needed to file a self assessment return. However the tax authority raised the threshold to £150,000 in the 2023-24 financial year.
The deadline for filing an online tax return for the 2023-24 financial year is January 31 2025.
HMRC said: “Our aim is to support all taxpayers, regardless of income, to get their tax right and avoid fines altogether. The overwhelming majority of customers file on time.”
“We charge penalties to encourage customers to meet their obligations, while acting as a sanction for those who don’t.”