Self-employed: Unpaid Taxes

(asked on 8th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the 31 January 2021 deadline by six months for the self employed who have taxes to be paid for the tax year 2019-20.


Answered by
Jesse Norman Portrait
Jesse Norman
This question was answered on 13th January 2021

The Government encourages as many people as possible to file on time even if they cannot pay their tax straight away, but where a taxpayer is unable to do so because of the impact of COVID-19 HMRC will accept they have a reasonable excuse and cancel penalties, provided they manage to file as soon as possible after that.

HMRC are looking into potential changes that could be introduced to the process for making a reasonable excuse claim and getting penalties cancelled, in order to make the process easier and quicker for taxpayers, agents and HMRC. HMRC have already given taxpayers and agents more time to appeal by extending the penalty appeal period by three months.

Only by filing a Self-Assessment return will taxpayers and their agents be able to determine the tax due for 2019/20 and the amount of any payments on account for 2020/21. For those taxpayers who will have difficulty in paying all of their Self-Assessment liabilities due on 31 January 2021, HMRC’s enhanced Time to Pay arrangements will make it easier to pay over an extended period.

If taxpayers or their agents are struggling to obtain the required information in time for their Self-Assessment return to be submitted by the 31 January filing date, they can provide provisional figures on their return and then provide HMRC with the actual figures as soon as they can. They must state that provisional figures are being provided by ticking the appropriate data item box on the return.

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