Be sure to have submitted your Tax Return and pay your tax by the 31 January deadline. See How to pay your Self-Assessment tax bill.
What happens if you are late?
The Self-Assessment penalty regimen is nicely summarised in this video:
In detail, the penalties for late submission and late payment are treated separately as follows:
Penalties for late submission
You will be charged a penalty of £100, even if you do not owe any tax.
If you are three months late, you will be charged a daily penalty of £10 per day, up to a maximum of £900
If you are six months late, there will be a penalty of £300 (or 5% of the tax owing if this is greater)
If you are 12 months late, you will be charged another £300 (or 5% of the tax owing if this is greater). In exceptional circumstances, a higher penalty of up to 100% of the tax due is possible
If you are in a business partnership, the penalties apply both to the late submission of the partnership return and the individual partner’s returns
Penalties for late payment
HMRC will charge you interest of 2.5% over the Bank of England base rate from the first day after the 31 Jan or 31 Jul payment deadline. Link to HMRC's latest interest rates.
5% of tax unpaid after 30 days
Another 5% of tax unpaid after 6 months
Another 5% of tax unpaid after 12 months
Appealing against a penalty
If you have a reasonable excuse for why you missed the tax return filing deadline, you have 30 days to appeal against the penalty using form SA370
Have you already submitted your SA Tax Return?
Then be sure to pay your tax bill before 31 January / 31 July. See How to pay your Self-Assessment tax bill.
Just for fun, here are some of HMRC's best excuses and questionable expenses
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