If you were among the 1.8 million taxpayers who missed the 31 January 2021 filing deadline, please do not bury your head in the sand. Although you will not be charged a late filing penalty provided you submit your return online by 28 February 2021, if you did not pay your self-assessment tax bill by 31 January you are now incurring interest on the outstanding balance, even if paying through a payment plan.
You will need to pay any 2019-20 outstanding balance, or arrange a payment plan, before 2 March to avoid a 5% late payment penalty. We would recommend paying, even if it is an estimated amount, as soon as possible to minimise interest and late payment penalties.
A payment plan for debts between £32 and £30,000 can be set up through your digital tax account, provided you have no other tax debts, or other HMRC payment plans set up and it is arranged no later than 60 days after the due date.
If you are struggling to file your return or pay your tax please note HMRC will need to know what payments are due before agreeing a time to pay arrangement, which means that you must file your return first.
If you have payments on account to make for 2020/21 but have seen profits fall, please get in touch to see whether we could arrange for the payments on account to be reduced.