Fine from tax office

[Deleted User]

Hi,
My OH has recently had a fine through for £100 from the tax office for not filing a tax return.:mad: As he has been employed for 4 years now, we thought that all this was sorted last year. We did not receive a tax form this year to fill in, so thought nothing of it.
Anyway, he received this letter saying as he hadn't filed his return, he was going to be charged £100. He rang them and explained that he is no longer self employed and has been paying tax through his employer for the lat 4 years. As usual, the monkey on the other end of the phone couldn't do anything. They said to put the appeal in writing, which we did. They are now saying that we have to still pay the fine, as the appeal takes a few weeks to process. IF they find in our favour for the appeal, then they will refund the £100. They also said if we don't pay by the end of the month, they will double the fine!
We are both really annoyed about this, as he had a tax bill for £600 around 8 months ago, which we again challenged, as he has been paying his tax through his employer. The woman he spoke to said she would sort it, cancelled the tax bill and said she had updated his record to show he was employed and no longer self employed. But surprise, suprise, she obviously didn't do it properly!
I've ranted a bit, but I'm really annoyed. Do we have to pay this fine while the appeal is outstanding, and are they likely to find in our favour for the appeal? At the moment, we are thinking it's not likely, and if we pay the £100, then there's no urgency on their part to deal with the appeal, or even find in our favour, even though we are 100% in the right on this one.
Anyone had any experience of this? I'm not holding my breath for a win in our favour, but any experience or advice would be greatly appreciaited.

chrismac1

Your experience is a lot more common than being dealt with efficiently and effectively. Here is the good news - if you file a return and there is no tax to pay then all fines relating to late returns are wiped out. The plan for 2011-12 is to let the £100 fines stand, in my view - as posts like yours demonstrate - whilst we have a system which can't even sort out the easy things this plan should be shelved.

Pennywise

Just file the return and as long as he owes nothing, the fine will be zeroised. If HMRC have issued a tax return or a notice to complete one, then he will have to submit one, whether there's anything else to declare or not. Sadly, he'll probably now have to complete another for 10/11 as the deadline has passed for the HMRC systems to decide who needs an SA return for 10/11. If he'd submitted the 09/10 on time, the system should have highlighted future returns weren't needed. Did he not get reminders from HMRC in October and again in December reminding him to submit his tax return. With HMRC, you can't just ignore their correspondence - if they're writing to you, it's for a reason and you're best to get onto them straight away rather than "assuming" it's not relevant.

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush

becksterb wrote: »

As usual, the monkey on the other end of the phone couldn't do anything.

Take that attitude and ram it.

dori2o

becksterb wrote: »

Hi,
My OH has recently had a fine through for £100 from the tax office for not filing a tax return.:mad: As he has been employed for 4 years now, we thought that all this was sorted last year. We did not receive a tax form this year to fill in, so thought nothing of it.
Anyway, he received this letter saying as he hadn't filed his return, he was going to be charged £100. He rang them and explained that he is no longer self employed and has been paying tax through his employer for the lat 4 years. As usual, the monkey on the other end of the phone couldn't do anything.
If this was your/his attitude I wouldn't want to help you either

They said to put the appeal in writing, which we did. They are now saying that we have to still pay the fine,

Highly debateable that they said you MUST pay it. The penalty will stay on the statement and will become payable at the normal date. Whether you decide to pay it or not is your choice. If the appeal is overturned then by not making the payment it means interest will added to the £100.

as the appeal takes a few weeks to process. IF they find in our favour for the appeal, then they will refund the £100. They also said if we don't pay by the end of the month, they will double the fine!
Complete Bunkum. I find it hard to believe that this was the advice given and is more a statement made by yourself to 'jazz up' the post. Penalties are issued on a 6 mobth basis and has nothing to do with the payment and everything to do with the submission of the return.

We are both really annoyed about this, as he had a tax bill for £600 around 8 months ago, which we again challenged, as he has been paying his tax through his employer. The woman he spoke to said she would sort it, cancelled the tax bill and said she had updated his record to show he was employed and no longer self employed. But surprise, suprise, she obviously didn't do it properly!

At the time this tax bill arrived the tax return in question would have been issued already. Did you complete last years on time? Did you fill in the last self employment page correctly, i.e. did you show the date that your husband ceased self employment?

I've ranted a bit, but I'm really annoyed. Do we have to pay this fine while the appeal is outstanding,
The choice is yours, but if your husband does owe tax for 2009/10 and the appeal is not successful,you will also have to pay interest on the £100.

and are they likely to find in our favour for the appeal?
Have you ever appealed a penalty before? What is the basis for your appeal? If you have appealed before and used the same excuse then the appeals officer is likely to take a dim view of the appeal. If this is the first time you have appealed, then there is a good possibility that the apeal will be upheld.

At the moment, we are thinking it's not likely, and if we pay the £100, then there's no urgency on their part to deal with the appeal, or even find in our favour, even though we are 100% in the right on this one.
Forget about the appeal for now, have you submitted the return. The appeal will not be considered whilst the tax return is still outstanding. If there is no tax to pay then the penalty will automatically be reduced to nil. If there is a tax charge, your appeal will be reviewed and the appropriat decision taken.
Anyone had any experience of this? I'm not holding my breath for a win in our favour, but any experience or advice would be greatly appreciaited.

Just to advise, as the 2009/10 tax return has been (or will be) submitted late, you will have been selected for the 2010/11 tax return that will be issued in April.

Make sure you complete this one on time as the £100 filing penalty will no longer reduce to the same amount as the tax liability if less than £100. From October, a £100 late filing penalty is just that and only a successful appeal will cancel the penalty.