1m to miss tax deadline

NEARLY one million people will fail to get their tax forms in on time and are facing a £100 penalty as a result. Since self-assessment began the number of people who have missed the filing deadline every year has remained almost constant.

The Inland Revenue has run advertising campaigns every year to try to persuade recalcitrant taxpayers to get their forms in but despite the publicity, many people still don't make the deadline.

Some 70,000 people still haven't settled their bill for 1997, the first year for which returns were due in. Although critics claim the Revenue is happy to sit back and rake in the income from non-filing taxpayers, the reverse is true as late returns mean that tax due is not paid and overpaid tax cannot be refunded.

The past two years have seen the taxman take an increasingly confrontational attitude towards late payers. They can now be fined £60 for every day their return is late. The charges are in addition to the £100 fixed penalty for late submission.

According to Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, anyone with complex tax affairs can usually avoid the penalties for late filing as long as they pay their tax bill in time.

'I wouldn't recommend this as legitimate tax planning, but as long as people with professional advisers pay the correct amount of tax in time, the fine is usually not paid. Even so, my advice is that you should get your return in on time and pay the tax due otherwise you run the risk of falling foul of the Revenue's penalties.'

Anyone who wants to use the Inland Revenue's online filing service should be aware that they need to obtain a password in advance from the taxman and this can take a few days to arrange. Tax advisers say that leaving it all to the very last minute is a recipe for disaster but for anyone who does, experience shows that as long as your return arrives in the post on the day after the 31 January deadline, it will still not be considered late.

The Inland Revenue's website (www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk) contains useful information about self-assessment and full details of how to file your return and pay your tax bill.

Anyone with tax problems who cannot afford to pay for a professional adviser can contact the charity Tax Aid (www.taxaid.org.uk/), which provides a confidential and free service for taxpayers.