Postal strike is no excuse for filing a late tax return Revenue & Customs will not waive its self-assessment deadline despite the strike delays

Published 29th Oct 2009

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is urging taxpayers who had been planning to submit their tax return by post to deliver it by hand to their nearest tax office to ensure it arrives on time.

HMRC has refused to waive the October 31 deadline for postal tax returns, despite intermittent postal strikes leading to mail arriving two weeks late. However, it has promised to be lenient to taxpayers who can prove that they were caught out by the postal strikes.

A nationwide postal strike took place on Thursday and Friday this week; London postal workers have been holding intermittent one-day strikes for several months.

HMRC will issue a penalty of £100 to those who file late. It will only consider waiving the fine if taxpayers who filed by post can prove that the late return was due to the strikes.

A spokesman for HMRC says: “The October 31 deadline is statutory and has not been changed by the postal strike. However, anyone missing the deadline purely because of the circumstances of the strike will almost certainly not attract a penalty.”

Despite the Revenue’s offer, accountants fear that some taxpayers may struggle to prove when they posted their return and so could end up being fined unfairly.

Roy Maugham, of UHY Hacker Young, the accountant, says: “Many tax returns will already be in the postal system but could have been sitting in a backlog with no record of when they were sent.

“Those who have not yet posted their return should use recorded delivery to prove the date.”

The tax authorities are advising taxpayers to file online or deliver their tax return by hand to be sure of not being fined.

Most tax offices will be closed on October 31 because it is a Saturday. The deadline for returns submitted online is January 31.

But Matt Coward, of PKF, the accountant, says: “HMRC officers are instructed not to give receipts for returns delivered by hand, so it will be difficult to prove that you delivered the return on time.”

Mr Maugham adds: “We are faced with a ridiculous situation where a branch of the Government is demanding that post arrives by October 31 while a government-owned business refuses to deliver it — with the taxpayer in the middle paying the price for it.”

Last year 2.4 million taxpayers submitted their tax returns by post and six million people filed returns online.However, despite the general trend to file online, accountants say that many people, particularly the elderly, remain uncomfortable using the internet.

Complaints about the online service have also increased. According to HMRC’s latest annual report, the number of complaints made about its online service almost trebled last year. There were 1,443 complaints in 2008-09 compared with 514 complaints in 2007-08.

Francesca Lagerberg, of Grant Thornton, the accountant, says: “Some individuals may not want to use the online service if they do not feel confident using a computer or do not want to go through the registration process, which includes waiting for an activation PIN via the post.”

If you allow the Revenue to work out your tax bill, make sure that you check it carefully. Mistakes are often made when Revenue employees enter figures into the computers that calculate tax bills.

Source: ' Times '

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