Self Assessment Tax Return - Late Delivery Penalty

rikkyboy69

Just received my Self Assessment: Tax Calculation form from the Inland Revenue.

It states "We received your paper Tax Return after 31st October deadline so you will be liable to a penalty of £100".

However, I hand delivered the Tax Return to Nottingham tax office on Friday the 30th October - I was asked by the security guard to place the envelope in the security office letterbox. I have hand delivered my tax returns for several years by this method, as I have found Royal Mail to be unreliable.

I have not actually had a penalty notice yet but think this will be forthcoming.

Does anybody else have any similar experiences?

thank you

agrinnall

As the 30th was a Friday if they didn't clear the mailbox until Monday then it would have been after the deadline. I would hope that if you do receive a penalty notice then you'll be able to successfully argue your case. Is there any reason why you don't do your SA online, which would have not only bypassed this issue but given you an extra 3 months to submit?

Darksparkle

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/sammanual/SAM120500.htm

TheCyclingProgrammer

I can understand not trusting Royal Mail to deliver in a timely manner but surely a better solution than hand delivering the day before the deadline would be to a) do it online as agrinnal said of b) send it by recorded delivery several weeks before the due date. I've never understood why people leave things to the very last minute.

agrinnall

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

I can understand not trusting Royal Mail to deliver in a timely manner ...

Actually, my understanding is that at item posted 1st class is deemed as delivered on the next delivery day, so proof of posting would probably have been enough evidence to satisfy the deadline had it been posted on the 28th (or even the 29th if HMRC accept deliveries on Saturday) even if it didn't actually arrive until later.