HMRC Delays and Penalties

BPPete

Hi all,

Thanks in advance for any positive replies and I hope this is in the right category. I’ll try to bullet point to save time…

2020/21 tax year. 

I had a self assessment 
my wife had a self assessment 
we both had a very simple partnership assessment. 

My self assessment completed online and tax paid straight away. 

My wife couldn’t complete online. Called HMRC and was told there was a suffix issue in the system and she’d have to submit paper. 

Suffix issue affected bridging software and that had to be paper as well. 

Penalties started rolling in. Called HMRC and was told to ignore due to a backlog. 

Penalties passed £1k. Called HMRC again and told to ignore. 

Penalties passed £5k. Called HMRC told the assessments were rejected. Had the partnership been trading for a year then the income would exceed £85k. Told them we only intended to trade for 6 months. They said they’d written a letter but they had sent it to an old address. They agreed that was their mistake and to write another appeal. 

Another two months past. Still no reply and the fines are racking up. 

Can anyone offer any advice? I have completed everything on time and paid when requested. It seems the initial delay was due to an issue known to HMRC. When the rejection came through I completed a new form within the week. It seems that any delays are down to HMRC. I have now logged a complaint and will wait another 10 working days to hear back while these penalties continue to increase. 

The joke is I think we owe less than £1k in tax. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Sorry but I have no idea what the actual issue is.

Did your wife a fully file a paper return?

Are the penalties for late submission of a Self Assessment return by your wife?

Are they related to the partnership?

Why is £85k relevant?  Is there a VAT connection?

Maybe you could stick to the pertinent facts as otherwise this is going to be a very long thread with a lot of guesswork.

BPPete

Yes she’s submitted a paper return. 

The partnership submitted a paper return. 

The partnership can have a simple page to complete or a more detailed if annual turnover above £85k. Nothing to do with vat. 

The penalties are for her return and the partnership. 

The question is around challenging unreasonable delays by HMRC. It has taken them nearly a year to review a very simple set of returns and due to their delay the penalties are huge. 

Jeremy535897

See https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/complain-about-hmrc