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Late filing your 2011/12 personal tax return?

From 1 May 2013, further late filing penalties apply to outstanding 2011/12 income tax self assessment returns.

2011/12 returns should have been filed by 31 January 2013 and, if still outstanding, will have incurred an automatic penalty of £100 (even if no tax is due). If the return remains outstanding after the end of April, the penalty goes up to £10 a day, for up to 90 days.

For returns filed on paper, the deadline was 31 October 2012, and late returns will already have clocked up the £100 penalty and daily HMRC penalties. Returns still outstanding after 30 April 2013 and filed on paper will incur a further penalty of the greater of £300 and 5% of the tax outstanding on 31 October 2012. It therefore makes sense to file late returns online.

No penalty will be due where the taxpayer has a reasonable excuse for the return being late. HMRC provides a claim form for this, and guidance, at What counts as a reasonable excuse for filing an online return late?

Note also that the filing deadline is later if the return was issued late – it will be three months after the date of issue, if that is later than the statutory filing date.