HMRC issued letters to thousands of people over the festive period, advising them to "reconsider the entries" on last year's tax return and reminding them of the penalties for errors.
The generic letters ask recipients to check the entries on their tax return for the year ended 5 April 2015. This comes as part of a trial to see whether the Revenue can encourage people to take more care when doing their tax returns.
“We regularly receive information from banks, financial institutions, third-party intermediaries and social lenders providing details of untaxed interest paid to investors," the letters state.
"It's important to make sure that the figures shown on your tax return are right.”
The letters then go on to describe the next actions required before a section about a penalty warning at the end.
The deadline for sending 2015-16 Self Assessment tax returns to HMRC, and paying any tax owed, is 31 January 2017, yet six million of the 11 million people in Britain required to fill in a tax return are still to submit it. Around 870,000 taxpayers missed the 2016 deadline and were liable for a £100 fine, plus extra penalties in some cases.
In separate research carried out by YouGov almost two million taxpayers will spend the better part of a working day completing their self-assessment tax return and 55 per cent of those surveyed said they actively dislike the current process.
Our experts at Beavis Morgan take the hassle of dealing with HMRC away from you, so you don’t need to deal directly with them. We are also able to advise on all aspects of tax whether compliance or planning.
Contact Alan Ford or your usual Beavis Morgan Partner for further information and assistance.