Thousands of self assessment taxpayers who missed a deadline saw their penalties cancelled by HMRC last year as the service struggled to cope with customer service queries, The Telegraph reports.
HMRC typically fines taxpayers £100 for missing the 31 January deadline for payments, but many taxpayers made the case for its part in the chaos due to lack of support. Fines cancelled on appeal went up by 70% last year, the paper reports.
Last year HMRC announced that it would handle ‘priority’ queries only in the seven weeks before the 31 January 2024 deadline.
Tax is on many GPs’ minds as the GP workforce crisis affects income across the country. A new survey this week found that on average from 1,852 GPs polled, respondents report working on average a day less a week than in 2022.
Tori Ferguson, a tax manager at the specialist medical firm Honey Barrett, will take questions from sessional GPs – including on tax deadlines, and falling take-home pay – during her talk to NASGP members on Thursday 5 September.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “Although this will be of some comfort to anyone who was fined, this doesn’t mean we should be taking our foot off the pedal when it comes to filling in our next return.
“In fact, I think the lesson here is to submit much earlier this time around, as the HMRC support line is unlikely to be firing on all cylinders by the next deadline.
“And of course, do sign up to our webinar to head off any future HMRC issues at the pass.”