Self Assessment tax deadline extended

HMRC has said that it recognises that COVID-19 is affecting the capacity of some self-assessment taxpayers and agents to meet their obligations in time for the 31 January 2022 deadline. It has therefore agreed to waive the usual late filing and late payment penalties for one month (until 28 February 2022) for those self-assessment taxpayers that need a bit of extra time to file their return and pay any tax owing.

Interest (at 2.75%) will however run on any late payment from 1 February 2022 and it is therefore better to pay any tax owing today if possible.

Further, HMRC has confirmed that anyone who cannot pay their self-assessment tax by today will not face a late payment penalty, provided they pay the tax in full or set up a ‘Time to Pay’ arrangement – which lets people spread their payments – by 1 April 2022.