HMRC charged taxpayers £187m in late tax fines in 2022

HMRC issued £187m worth of fines and interest charges to taxpayers for the late payment of taxes in the past year, according to data gathered by specialists in tax and accountancy software at Thomson Reuters. 

This comes as a total of 540,000 late payment penalties were issued to taxpayers last year, as huge numbers of self-assessment taxpayers missed payment deadlines.

With the cost-of-living crisis and rising interest rates, it is likely that many individuals and small business owners will struggle to make payments of tax owed, not to mention penalties and interest on top of this.

HMRC recently increased interest rates on late payments to 6.75% – up from 3.25% one year ago, which is expected to further increase the cost of late tax payments.

HMRC was provided substantial additional funds at the last Budget to help pursue late tax payments, as the government department’s statistics show that there is currently £40.3bn in overdue tax that is currently owed.

Simon Brookings, general manager of tax and accounting professionals at Thomson Reuters, said: Taxpayers who have fallen behind in payments need to be speaking to HMRC sooner rather than later. The longer they leave it the higher the penalties they will have to pay.

“Self-assessment taxpayers should be consulting accountants to help them budget for the year ahead. They can use expert tax software to simplify the calculation process making it less likely that they’ll fall behind on payments and incur hefty fines.”