Call to scrap late-filing penalties for non-taxpayers
Nearly 400,000 self-employed people on low incomes are being penalised for filing their tax returns late when most of them don't owe any tax.
Penalties can build up until people owe thousands of pounds, according to Tax Policy Associates.
The non-profit called for penalties to be cancelled if HMRC finds people have no taxable income.
HMRC said new rules would mean people who sometimes miss a filing deadline would not be penalised.
Tax Policy Associates revealed that Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi paid a penalty over previously unpaid tax while he was chancellor.
The boss of HMRC told MPs on Thursday there were no penalties for “innocent” tax errors.
Nearly 12 million self-employed people need to fill out self-assessment tax returns each year.
Through Freedom of Information requests to HMRC, Tax Policy Associates found that nearly 400,000 people earning less than £13,000 received a penalty for not filing a tax return on time between 2018 and 2020.
Read more at BBC News
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