Late tax return help

Your Unique Taxpayer Reference — the 10-digit number HMRC issues when you register for Self Assessment. Lifelong, and needed for every return.

Advance payments toward next year's tax, due 31 January and 31 July, triggered once your bill passes £1,000. The first year they apply effectively bills 150% at once.

The main Self Assessment return form. Supplementary pages bolt on for employment, self-employment, property, capital gains and foreign income.

The difference between what your payments on account covered and what the year's tax actually was — settled each 31 January.

An aspect enquiry questions specific entries in a return; a full enquiry opens the whole return. The letter's wording tells you which — and shapes the strategy.

HMRC penalties scale by whether an error was despite reasonable care, careless, or deliberate — the classification is usually the real battlefield.

An instalment arrangement with HMRC for tax you can't pay at once — routinely agreed, and engaging early is what keeps it available.

HMRC's power to assess tax outside normal enquiry windows — 4 years for innocent error, 6 for carelessness, 20 for deliberate behaviour.

One day late: £100, even if you owe nothing. Three months: £10/day up to £900 more. Six months: another £300 or 5% of tax due. Twelve months: the same again. Late payment penalties and interest run separately on unpaid tax. Try our penalty calculator for your exact figure — then remember every one of those numbers stops growing at filing.

With a reasonable excuse, yes — serious illness, bereavement, genuine HMRC system failures and similar grounds succeed regularly; 'I was busy' doesn't. Even without full cancellation, getting the return in fast caps the damage. We include the appeal assessment in every rescue and file the appeal when the grounds are real.

With a calm list: which years HMRC actually wants (we check your record as your agent), oldest first, reconstructed from bank data where records are gone. Multiple-year catch-ups are quoted as one fixed package. If significant tax was unpaid, a voluntary disclosure wrapper keeps penalties at the cooperative end. It's all fixable — start this week.

Preparation and online filing of your full SA100 return, including the supplementary pages your situation needs. If your return is more complex — rental income, capital gains — the packages above show the fixed price, and we confirm it in writing before starting.

Yes. Late returns are common and fixable: we prepare and file the outstanding return quickly, and where there's a reasonable excuse we help you appeal penalties. The sooner it's filed, the sooner the penalties stop growing.

Usually less bad than it reads. Most checks focus on one aspect — a expenses category, a VAT period, a source of income HMRC can see but your return doesn't show. The response strategy matters enormously: answer exactly what's asked, accurately, with nothing extra. That's the £299 first stage, and many checks end there.

Then a voluntary disclosure — made before HMRC finds it — is dramatically cheaper in penalties, sometimes the difference between 0–30% and up to 100% of the tax. We prepare the numbers, present the disclosure and negotiate the settlement. It's the conversation people put off for years and resolve in weeks.

Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent — whichever suits your business (or whichever you already use). Software subscription can be included in your monthly fee, and we handle all the setup and migration.

Each line on your bank statement — a payment in or out. Most one-person businesses sit comfortably under 50 a month. If you drift over your band we'll tell you before the fee changes, never after.