Late tax payments will be charged at 7.75% interest, accountants have warned GP locums and other self-employed taxpayers ahead of the 31 January deadline, Accountancy Daily reports.
Interest rates for unpaid self-assessment tax are at their highest rate for 20 years, the site warned readers. The Bank of England’s interest rate currently stands a full two and a half percentage points lower at 5.25%.
Stefanie Tremain, tax partner at Blick Rothenberg, told AD: “If any tax due by 31 January 2024 is not paid in time, HMRC will charge interest. Currently at a rate of 7.75% per annum, from the due date to the date of payment.
“In addition, a 5% penalty will be charged if the 2022-23 balancing payment is not paid within 30 days of the due date, with an additional 5% penalty charged if the tax remains outstanding after six months and 12 months.”
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, GP and NASGP chair, said: “We’ve been busy this year reminding members to get their tax returns filed early to avoid falling foul of these excessively high charges. For those of us with specialist medical accountants, this will all have been filed some months ago.
“This is often an exceptionally busy time of year for us GPs, and this otherwise laborious task will be something we’ve already filed to our subconscious. But with only days to go, if you haven’t yet filed your tax return, that boxset you were planning to watch this weekend will need to be put off another week”
NASGP has a number of resources for GPs filing tax returns:
- Video: Starting out with GP locum accounts – Adrian Cousens, director of RSM UK, presented a half-hour event with a Q&A for NASGP on 5 October.
- How to avoid overpaying self assessment tax – Don’t pay more than you need to, specialist medical accountant Liz Densley warns.
- Managing expenses for GP locums and salaried GPs – Which expenses paid by the individual (not the employer) are tax deductible? Liz Densley and Tori Ferguson explain
Read more on NASGP’s Knowledgebase.
