The results of last month’s short survey on the self-assessment deadline were in favour of not extending the deadline but asking HMRC to suspend penalties automatically for three months (64 percent of respondents). 5 percent of respondents did not want any extension to the deadline or penalty suspension with 31 percent in favour of extending the deadline.

HMRC have also advised that, while they will not be extending the deadline for filing corporation tax returns, they are prepared to accept the impact of COVID-19 as a ‘reasonable excuse’ for late filing on a case by case basis. In such cases, where taxpayers contact HMRC in advance of the deadline they can arrange for late filing penalties to be deferred.

This Institute has been lobbying HMRC for automatic suspension of penalties for a three-month period since last summer. However, in view of the extended restrictions and lockdown announced in early January across all regions in the UK, the Institute’s President Paul Henry wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in early January requesting a short extension to the 2019/20 self-assessment deadline.