HMRC late in processing 2017 SA return

I'd be interested to see if any other members have come across this?

Didn't find your answer?

We submitted a client's 2017 SA tax return on the 31/1/18 - and advised the client to pay the tax etc.

Client always settled his liability based on statements issued by HMRC

HMRC did not process the return so the liability and subsequent payment on account adjustments never pushed through onto his statement so he never paid the liability.

This came to our attention last October as the client was applying for a mortgage and needed the SA302's - this was showing as zero due to the return for that year not being processed so we chased HMRC. They then processed the return some 4 weeks later and straight away applied late payment penalties etc.

We succesfully appealed against the penalties on the basis of the late processing of the return and HMRC have since cancelled them.

 

I'd be interested to know other practitioners thoughts on this as they are now chasing him quite hard regarding the outstanding tax which to be fair is causing him some difficulty as he now has 2 years liabilities to settle?

Replies (4)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By Matrix
18th Feb 2020 09:29

Well done on getting the penalties cancelled. I don’t see how the failure to process the return is linked to the late tax payments.

Wouldn’t you have provided the tax payable and the due dates when he signed the return?

I have no experience of a return not showing but not surprised it happened.

Thanks (1)
Replying to Matrix:
avatar
By Greavesandco
21st Feb 2020 10:54

Despite us notifying him of his tax liabilities and payment dates he had unbeknown to us been paying as and when he got a statement so as the return had not been processed and it did not come to light until we requested SA302's late last year which then had us wondering why his 16/17 figures were nil on his gateway account and after a phone call to HMRC this all came to light

Just wondered if anyone else had come across same late processing

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Rammstein1
18th Feb 2020 09:47

Ask for a time to pay arrangement. The tax was always payable and the client shouldn't have waited for an HMRC statement. If the Tax Return was submitted on 31 January 2018 he was always going to pay them late.

Thanks (1)
Oaklea
By Chris.Mann
18th Feb 2020 10:18

I've always been of the opinion that an essential element of self-assessment, is exactly that - the regime is "self"-assessment.

Moving forward, in cases where it would be unrealistic/unreasonable to assume that HMRC could raise and issue a request for payment, the taxpayer should reasonably expect that payment is due, without reminder, on, or before, the due date.

Those are the expectations, from what I can see. The reality, of course, is often at variance and one has to risk the consequences.

Thanks (1)