HMRC Self Assessment Penalty Waiver
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Mark Morton 
24 January 2022 14:47
On 6 January HMRC announced that they will not charge late:
- filing penalties for those who file online by 28 February 2022; or
- payment penalties for those who pay the tax due in full or set up a payment plan by 1 April 2022. However, interest will be charged from 1 February 2022 on any amounts outstanding.
There is no change to the filing or payment deadline and other obligations are not affected.
This means that:
- interest will be charged on late payment (2.75%); and
- a return received online in February will be treated as a return received late, with a valid reasonable excuse for the lateness, meaning that there will be an extended enquiry window and:
- for returns filed after 28 February the daily late filing penalties will operate as usual; and
- a 5% late payment penalty will be charged if tax remains outstanding and a payment plan has not been set up by midnight on 1 April 2022. Further late payment penalties will be charged at the usual 6 and 12 month points on tax outstanding where a payment plan has not been set up.
HMRC will not charge late filing penalties for SA700s and SA970s received in February 2022 (these returns can only be filed on paper).
In respect of SA800s and SA900s HMRC will not charge a late filing penalty if taxpayers file online by the end of February 2022. The deadline for filing SA800s and SA900s on paper was 31 October 2021.
Taxpayers who file late on paper will be charged a late filing penalty in the normal way. They can appeal against this penalty if they have a reasonable excuse for filing their paper return late.
Self-employed taxpayers who need to claim certain contributory benefits soon after 31 January 2022 need to make sure their Class 2 NIC is paid on time. This is to make sure their claims are unaffected.
Class 2 NIC is included in the 2020/21 balancing payment that is due to be paid by 31 January 2022 and benefit entitlements may be affected if they:
- could not pay their balancing payment by 31 January 2022;
- have entered into a Time to Pay arrangement to pay off the balancing payment and other Self Assessment tax liabilities through instalments.
Affected taxpayers should contact HMRC on 0300 200 3822 for help as soon as possible.
Self-employed customers will need to contact HMRC on 0300 200 3500 for assistance if they have profits below £6,475 in the 2020 to 2021 tax year and:
- want to pay voluntary Class 2 NICs for contributory benefits after 31 January 2022;
- paid voluntary Class 2 NICs through Self Assessment before 31 January 2022 but will not file their return until after 31 January 2022.
