Good news everyone! HMRC, in the face of a crippling strike from the PCS union which will see 80% of their call centre staff walk out on January 31st, have taken the decision to effectively extend the deadline until midnight on Thursday February 2nd rather than face a deluge of complaints as a result of being mostly unreachable the day tax returns are due.
HMRC’s Acting Director General for Personal Tax Stephen Banyard said:
“We’ve always been very clear that we want the returns – not the penalties. For that reason, we don’t want anyone who can’t get through for help and advice on 31 January to be disadvantaged in any way.”
HMRC had previously announced that they would waive penalties for those who submitted their returns late as a result of being unable to contact HMRC for assistance due to the strike, but evidently have decided a blanket extension on the issuing of penalties would be more appropriate (and likely easier to manage). Officially the deadline remains January 31st, but all returns submitted up to midnight on February 2nd will be treated as if they were submitting on time.
Although the two day delay will be good news for those who have put off completing their tax return, HMRC’s increased fines will still apply. This means a £100 on-the-spot fine should you not make the new, midnight February 2nd deadline, and increased fines should you delay further. HMRC said they were expecting 600,000 people to submit their returns on deadline day, and expected to take 90,000 phone calls.
