Surcharge on late payment

Surcharge on late payment

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My client received a SA statement of account on 5 Nov from HMRC. We subsequently submitted the SA100 online (£5k liability) on 10 Nov, which was acknowledged on same date.

HMRC have not submitted a statement to my client since 5 Nov, consequently my client was waiting for a payslip and has only paid the liability this week.

Unfortunately, I advised the client to wait for HMRC to issue a statement & payslip between 10 Nov and 28 Feb, which would have allowed them to pay the liability by 28 Feb. I have checked online, and no statement was sent to the client.

Please can somebody clarify whether a penalty will be levied (I assume so), and also it is usual for HMRC not to send a statement for such a long period?

Also, do other accountants here usually send HMRC's BACS details to clients with the Return at the signing stage as to avoid this problem?

Thank you for any advice.

Claire H

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By davidacott.aol
03rd Mar 2009 15:41

Appeal against the surcharges
I appealed successfully against three such surcharges for 2006/07 on the grounds that the clients had always in the past paid on receipt of the statements. I also pointed out that although statements were dated in late February they were not actually received until early March.

The appeals were all accepted without question. One surcharge was about £2,000.

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By User deleted
03rd Mar 2009 14:57

Thanks AW
Thank you for your comment. Yes I forwarded that link to the client yesterday. I would have thought HMRC would pursue harder seeing as a fair amount was due.

I think I will take your advice & mail merge mid-Jan next time.

I'm going to pay her surcharge in this case in order to maintain the relationship.

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By User deleted
03rd Mar 2009 14:06

There is likely to be a surcharge.
It is Self Assessment. HMRC do not need to issue a payslip for the tax to be due and payable, and there are various ways to make payment, including on-line. Look HERE

It is best to advise the client of the tax payable and due dates, and remind them that just because they do not have a payslip does not mean that the tax is not payable, that interest will accrue from the due date, and a surcharge on any tax unpaid 28 days after the due date.

If you can automate if from your tax system (assuming you use third party software) then it probably does not hurt to send a reminder by mail merge from your system just before the due date.

Statements are normally sent half yearly, but not getting one is no reason for the tax not to be paid, after all you were able to view the account on-line

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