Hundreds of thousands of people who failed to submit their tax return online before midnight on January 31 will receive automatic fines from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
According to the department’s latest figures, just over 10 million returns were submitted on time but an estimated 710,000 were still outstanding after the deadline.
These people will receive a penalty of £100 for failing to comply on time but the fines can build up to hundreds of pounds, depending on how late the returns are and how long the tax remains unpaid.
If tax remains unpaid three months after the deadline, additional daily penalties of £10 a day apply, up to a maximum of £900 if the return is not made at all.
Then, after six months, there is a further penalty of 5 per cent of the tax due, or £300, whichever is the greater figure, while after 12 months, there is another 5 per cent or £300 charge applied.
This year, for the first time, higher earners with taxable income of more than £50,000 and who continued to receive child benefit after January 2013 also had to file self-assessment returns and pay back some of the benefit in tax, while if one parent has a taxable income of more than £60,000, then they must pay it all back.
However, according to HMRC, just under 100,000 of this cohort failed to register with the department. These taxpayers have been given some further time to register but could still be fined on a case-by-case basis under what is known as a “failure to notify” penalty.