Unfair Penalties
In June 09 I submitted on-line several PIID's and PIIDb forms on behalf of clients using Digita software. Printed out the receipts from HMR & C before having a good summer. In November a client received a penalty notice for £400 for non submission of their PIID's which I had submitted. On looking through the receipts from HMR & C it turned out that the receipt for this client said unsuccessful (There is not really a clear difference between a successful and an unsuccessful receipt). The reason for the failure was the tax reference of say A123 had been incorrectly entered onto our computer as A132. I immediatley corrected the mistake and resubmitted the forms. I then received a penalty notice for £500 as another month had gone by. All attempts to get the penalty waived have fallen on deaf ears. In previous years the returns had been submiited on paper using the same reference but were accepted. I accept the return was late, as I made a mistke but I really object to HMR & C waiting four months before they issue a penalty notice. When penalties increase monthly they should inform you that you are liable soon after the evenet not wait four months. Am I alone in in thibking that is a totally unacceptable practiceby HMR & C?
.
I had similar-ish experience in that they sent a penalty 9 months after, for £900. It was indeed that the client had not done it, and it fell in the middle of changeover from old accountant to us. So i thought they'd done it, they thought I had. Ok ultimately my mistake. So I wrote to HMRC - saying that I do accept it was late, but for them to wait 9 months was unacceptable time to wait to tell us. If they are fining on a month-by-month basis then they should tell us straight away if it was not received. I said we do admit it's our fault, and if they would reduce the fine to £100 we'll pay it. They did reduce it and I paid it. Hope this helps.
Similler
Was the Class 1A paid on time? If so argue that there was no loss to the crown. We did this in similer circumstances and won