One Late Return
Missed this January and want it dealt with before the daily penalties start in May. The most common and the most straightforward.
Talk to usLate Tax Returns
Late Tax Return Accountants in Birmingham
Missed the 31 January deadline, or several deadlines? We file outstanding Self Assessment returns, review the penalties charged, appeal them where there are grounds, and deal with HMRC on your behalf. Fixed fees agreed before we start.
- One Year Late
- Several Years
- Penalty Appeals
- Missing Records
- HMRC Letters
How It Works
Getting Back Up to Date
However far behind you are, the process is the same.
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01
Tell us how far behind you are
One year or six, records or none. We need to know the scale before we can tell you anything useful, and nothing you say will surprise us.
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02
We establish where you stand
We check what HMRC has on record, which years are outstanding, what penalties have been charged and whether any can be challenged.
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03
We file and stop the clock
Returns prepared and submitted, penalties appealed where there are grounds, and a payment plan discussed with HMRC if you need one.
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Penalties Stop
Filing halts the escalation immediately.
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Any Number of Years
One year or six, handled together.
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No Judgement
We have seen every version of this.
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Fixed Fees
Agreed before we start.
Late Self Assessment Help
Behind on Your Tax Return? It Is Fixable
Every year several hundred thousand people miss the Self Assessment deadline. Some by a few days, some by a decade. The reasons are rarely dramatic — illness, a bereavement, a business that went wrong, or a letter that got put in a drawer and became harder to open with every month that passed.
What matters now is that penalties keep building while a return is outstanding and stop once it is filed. There is no version of this that gets better by waiting, and there is no version so bad that it cannot be sorted out.
Talk to Someone About ItHMRC Penalties
How Late Filing Penalties Build Up
Late filing penalties escalate on a fixed schedule, and they apply whether or not you owe any tax. Filing penalties alone can exceed £1,600 before the tax itself, late payment penalties or interest are taken into account.
Late payment penalties are charged separately from late filing penalties, and interest runs on unpaid tax from the original due date. Since Making Tax Digital began, those brought into it move to a points-based regime instead, so which rules apply to you depends on your circumstances.
Stop the Clock- The day after 31 January £100 fixed penalty. It applies even where no tax is owed, and even where you are due a refund.
- 3 months late Daily penalties of £10, for up to 90 days. That adds a further £900 on top of the original £100.
- 6 months late A further penalty of 5% of the tax due, or £300, whichever is greater.
- 12 months late Another 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater. Higher penalties can apply where HMRC considers information was withheld deliberately.
Penalty rates and rules are set by HMRC and change from time to time. For the current position see GOV.UK Self Assessment penalties, or ask us to review your notices.
What We Deal With
Late Tax Return Situations We Handle
Whether it is one missed deadline or a decade of avoidance, the route back is the same.
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Several Years Outstanding
Three, five or more years unfiled. We work through them together, reconstruct what is missing and bring the whole position up to date at once.
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Penalty Appeals
Where there is a reasonable excuse for the delay, we prepare and submit the appeal alongside the return itself.
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Missing Records
No invoices, lost statements, a closed bank account. We reconstruct income and expenses from what can still be obtained.
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HMRC Correspondence
Determinations, penalty notices, debt collection letters. We act as your agent and deal with HMRC directly on your behalf.
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CIS Refunds on Late Returns
Subcontractors are often owed money on the years they have not filed. Late does not always mean you owe — sometimes it is the opposite.
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Penalty Appeals
Can an HMRC Penalty Be Cancelled?
Sometimes, yes. HMRC can cancel a late filing penalty where you had a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline. It is not automatic and it does not always succeed, but it costs nothing to have the position reviewed properly.
We will tell you honestly whether we think an appeal has a realistic prospect rather than submitting one for the sake of it. Where it does, we prepare and submit it alongside the return.
Have Your Penalty ReviewedWhat you should know about appeals:
- HMRC can cancel a penalty where you had a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline.
- Serious illness, a bereavement, hospital treatment or a genuine HMRC service failure are among the grounds commonly accepted.
- Not knowing about the deadline, finding the return difficult, or relying on someone else to file it are generally not accepted.
- An appeal normally needs to be made within 30 days of the penalty notice, though HMRC can accept later appeals with a good reason.
- The outstanding return usually needs to be filed before an appeal will be considered.
What to Expect
Six Things Worth Knowing Before You Call
Most people put this off far longer than they need to, usually because of what they imagine the conversation will be like.
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No lectures
People fall behind for all sorts of reasons — illness, bereavement, a business that went wrong, or simply avoidance that snowballed. We have seen all of it and none of it is our business to judge.
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You may be owed money
Not every late return produces a bill. CIS subcontractors and people with employment income taxed at source frequently turn out to be due a refund on the years they never filed.
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Filing stops the escalation
Filing penalties stop building once the return is in. The sooner it is filed, the smaller the final figure — which is why acting now genuinely matters.
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Payment plans exist
If you cannot pay what is owed in one go, HMRC will often agree instalments. Owing tax and being unable to pay it immediately are two different problems.
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Appeals are worth checking
HMRC can cancel penalties where there was a reasonable excuse. It is not automatic and it does not always succeed, but it is worth reviewing rather than assuming.
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Fixed fees, agreed first
You will know what it costs before we start, including where several years are involved. No hourly billing on top of a bill you are already worried about.
Related Services
Related Accounting and Tax Services
Once you are up to date, the priority is making sure it does not happen again.
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Self Assessment Tax Returns
Returns filed on time for sole traders, landlords, directors and individuals with untaxed income.
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Tax Investigations
Representation where HMRC opens an enquiry or compliance check into your affairs.
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CIS Accountants
Construction Industry Scheme refunds, monthly returns and gross payment status.
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Sole Trader Accountants
Accounts, bookkeeping and ongoing tax support for the self-employed.
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Landlord Accountants
Rental income, property expenses and Capital Gains Tax for landlords.
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Making Tax Digital
Digital records and quarterly updates, so next year does not become another late one.
Learn more
Get in Touch
The Longer It Waits, the More It Costs
Tell us how far behind you are and we will tell you what it involves and what it costs. No lectures, and no obligation to go ahead.
Call: 0121 439 9760
Email: [email protected]
Visit: 1126A Stratford Road, Hall Green, Birmingham B28 8AE
FAQs
Late Tax Returns — Common Questions
Penalties, appeals, multiple outstanding years, determinations and what happens if you cannot pay.
An automatic £100 penalty applies the day after the 31 January deadline, whether or not any tax is owed. After three months, daily penalties of £10 begin and run for up to 90 days, adding a further £900. At six months there is a further penalty of 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater, and the same again at twelve months. Filing penalties alone can therefore exceed £1,600 before any tax, late payment penalties or interest are added.
Yes. The £100 late filing penalty applies regardless of whether tax is owed, and it applies even where you are due a refund. This catches out a lot of people who assume that owing nothing means there is nothing to file. If HMRC has issued a notice to file, the return is required.
This is more common than you would think and it is workable. We establish what HMRC has on record, identify every outstanding year, reconstruct the income and expenses where records are missing, and file the returns together. Some years may produce a refund rather than a bill. The important thing is that penalties stop accruing once the returns are in.
They can be cancelled where you had a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline. Serious illness, a bereavement, hospital treatment, a fire or flood, or a failure of HMRC’s own online service are among the grounds commonly accepted. Not understanding the return, finding it difficult, or relying on someone else to file it are generally not. An appeal is normally due within 30 days of the penalty notice, and the return usually needs to be filed first.
File the return anyway. Not filing does not delay the debt, it just adds penalties on top of it. HMRC will often agree a Time to Pay arrangement allowing the balance to be paid in instalments, and being up to date with your filing puts you in a far better position to negotiate one. We can help you approach HMRC about this.
Where a return stays outstanding, HMRC can issue a determination, which is its own estimate of the tax it thinks you owe. A determination cannot be appealed in the usual way. The way to displace it is to file the actual return, which replaces HMRC’s estimate with your real figures. Those figures are frequently lower.
There is no point at which an outstanding return stops being due, and HMRC can pursue tax going back many years, particularly where it considers the failure was careless or deliberate. Claiming a refund is different — there is a strict time limit for reclaiming overpaid tax, which is why leaving it does cost money if you are one of the people who is owed rather than owing.
If your records are in reasonable order, usually within days of receiving them. Where several years are outstanding or records need reconstructing it takes longer, but we can register as your agent with HMRC straight away, which lets us see your position and often takes some of the pressure off while the work is done.
Yes, they are separate charges and you can incur both. Late filing penalties relate to the return; late payment penalties relate to the tax itself, and interest runs on unpaid tax from the original due date. Filing on time but paying late still attracts a charge, and so does the reverse.
Two systems now run alongside each other. Taxpayers within Making Tax Digital for Income Tax move to a points-based regime, where each missed submission adds a point and a financial penalty is charged once the threshold is reached. Everyone else remains on the existing Self Assessment penalty structure. Which applies to you depends on whether you have been brought into MTD, so it is worth confirming rather than assuming.
Filing late does not automatically trigger an enquiry, and a long-outstanding return brought up to date voluntarily is generally viewed more favourably than one HMRC has to chase. Where an enquiry does follow, we can represent you through it.
It depends on the year involved, the state of the records and how many years are outstanding. We look at your situation and give you a fixed fee before any work starts, and it does not change afterwards. The first conversation is free, and if you turn out to be due a refund we will tell you that too.
Still have a question? Call 0121 439 9760, send us an enquiry or browse our full FAQs.