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Reasonable Excuse
Newsletter issue - July 2015.
If you have received a penalty for late filing of your personal tax return it is possible to get it cancelled if all of the following conditions are met:
- the penalty relates to your tax return for 2013/14;
- you have now submitted that tax return to HMRC;
- your appeal against the penalty includes a reasonable excuse for the late filing.
The reasonable excuses that HMRC will accept include; computer faults encountered while submitting the return, unexpected postal delays (only applicable to paper tax returns), life-changing events such as the death of a close family member, and fire or flood that occurred shortly before the tax return had to be filed.
HMRC admit that where a taxpayer is flummoxed by their online systems that can also be a reasonable excuse for later filing. However, you need to be more precise than saying; "I didn't understand the online instructions".
An acceptable reasonable excuse may be: "When I pressed 'submit' I received an error message that said; 'access denied'. I rang the HMRC online helpdesk on these occasions and received the following advice..."
When you contact HMRC for help with any tax return filing problem, whether for personal tax or business tax returns, always make a note of the exact time you rang and the number you called. If the HMRC officer tells you to do something (e.g. wait for a code number), write down what was said and ask for a name and reference number for that advice.
Many tax forms have to be filed online these days, and it can be an exasperating process. We can relieve that stress and leave you to get on with running your business by filing the tax forms on your behalf.
What our clients say about us...
"Paul has provided accountancy services to my company for 2 years now. I can recommend Paul very highly; his skills as an accountant are highly detailed and professional and he is always available to provide advice. One aspect of the way Paul works that I greatly appreciate is a preference to meet face to face when there is a detailed conversation to be had. I personally find this more productive and is a benefit of working with a small accountancy firm that you wouldn't get with the large faceless providers."
ALISTAIR FAIRWEATHER - PROGRAMME & PROJECT MANAGER, DELIVERING/RESCUING I.T. 7 BUSINESS CHANGE WITH BUDGETS UPTO £50M INC SUPPIER MANAGEMENT
"I couldn't ask for more from Paul as an Accountant. Paul has been accountant to Work Relief Charity Recruitment for just over a year now and is proving an invaluable asset. Accurate, knowledgeable, flexible with an emphasis on service delivery, I would recommend Paul's services to any organisation looking for an accounts professional."
Neil Price - Managing Director at Work Relief Charity Recruitment
"Paul was a referral from a family member when I started my business 2 years ago. As this was the first time I had ever run my own company I was totally clueless over the financial side of matters and was worried that I may have made mistakes in any of my accounting. I needn't have worried as after enaging Paul for a set monthly fee he was always there on the end of the phone for all sorts of questions I had and no matter how trivial they were Paul gave me all the information I required and more and did an excellent and painless job at the end of my first year! Couldn't ask for any better to be honest. Just two words - hire him!!!"
Lee Westrap MBCS - Director - Bulldog IT Services
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