To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many penalties were issued for non-submission of self-assessment tax returns in each of the last five years.
Answered on
5 December 2024
Late filing penalties are issued when a taxpayer fails to file an Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) return on or before the filing date (October 31 for paper, January 31 online). HMRC requires the information provided in a tax return to establish tax liability and to effectively administer the tax system. If a return is filed late, HMRC will issue a penalty. Penalties encourage taxpayers to file on time and support the collection of tax.
Currently, late filing penalties for self assessment are:
- a fixed penalty if the initial filing deadline is missed
- daily penalties (issued to a 90 day maximum) once three months has passed following the filing deadline
- a fixed or tax geared penalty (whichever is higher) six months following the filing deadline
- a fixed or tax geared penalty (whichever is higher) twelve months following the filing deadline
Below is the late filing penalty data for tax years 2018/19-2022/23, for all of the late filing penalties listed above.
Volume of all ITSA late filing penalties raised | |||||
Tax year* | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 *** |
Number of Late Filing Penalties raised** | 2,200,000 | 3,100,000 | 3,300,000 | 3,000,000 | 2,400,000 |
* penalties issued in respect of this tax year e.g. penalties for the 2022/23 tax year are issued after the January 2024 filing deadline ** total number of penalties issued, rounded to the nearest 100,000. Some customers may receive multiple late filing penalties in a year the longer their return is outstanding. *** complete data is not yet available for penalties issued in respect of the 2022/23 tax year | |||||
This data includes penalties for returns that have been submitted late to HMRC, as well as returns which have not yet been submitted to HMRC. It also reflects changes in the size or makeup of the Self-Assessment population from year to year.