£100 fine for putting "UK" instead of "GBR"

slopemaster

I am tax resident in France but liable to UK tax (self assessment) on rental income.

For tax year 2020-21 I sent my tax return in in plenty of time and didn't hear anything for ages.

Eventually, well after the filing deadline, I got a letter saying I hadn't given the (unspecified) required info.

When I eventually got trhough on the phone I was told various different things were "wrong" and passed around, until eventually someone told me the problem was I had put UK instead of GBR. (Roll eyes.)

So I would have to resubmit the whole form, with that error corrected..

Which I did immediately.

I have now received a £100 fine for "submitting my tax return late" even though the person on the phone assured me I would not be charged.

To add insult to injury there is not even any tax due as the amount is below my personal allowance, (although they have decided to demand tax on my pension although they know full well it is taxed in France).

I have just waited 30 minutes in the queue, and then had the phone put down on me as soon as I was asked for address and said it's in France!

Can anyone advise whether it is worth my time to appeal, as my reason for appealing is "it's an unreasonable decision", which does not fit any of their categories such as  bereavement ...?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

someone told me the problem was I had put UK instead of GBR. (Roll eyes.)

Put it where???

slopemaster

In the box which asks which countries you are EITHER citizen of or resident of.

There is a box to put an abbreviation. So I put UK and FR. (But should have looked it up and discovered it is GBR)

I also wrote out in full in the comments box "I am a British citizen resident in France since.(date).."

so its not as though it wasn't clear

Dazed_and_C0nfused

To be fair the help notes for the SA109 are equally clear.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-residence-remittance-basis-etc-sa109

Other than your time and effort you've nothing to lose by appealing.  But probably worth taking more care in future.

etienneg

Maybe the form is meant to be readable by a machine rather than a human, in which case it's easy to see why GBR would be understandable to the machine whereas UK would not.

slopemaster

Yes, I do totally get that I need to get it right - good point about readable by machine - and take more care in future.

But it still seems unreasonable to fine me £100, especially as

1  they took a long time to tell me there was a problem - I always submit my returns early so that there is time for this

2  the person who was finally able to tell me what the problem was admitted that if had been themp rocessing the form, they would have corrected it themselves, but said they now have loads of inexperienced staff

anyway, I've given up on the phone and filled in the appeal form to post off, so we'll see.

kinger101

Your tax return wasn't late.  There was a trivial error.

I'd ask them to cite which legislation gives them authority to levy a £100 fine.

If they cite pages of the HMRC manual, tell them that's not tax law.

You have every right to appeal on the basis

(a) your tax return wasn't late
(b) you were incorrectly told to file a new tax return
(c) you were assured you'd not be fined
(d) fines for errors are based on the amount of tax due. 

sheramber

 What was 'in plenty of time'?

Do you know when the original return was actually received by HMRC? 

.