HMRC: Self assessment Penalty notice (SA326)

[Allan]

I received a penalty notice from HMRC for GBP0 on Saturday (what a waste
of time, paper and money).

The reason for this is that my accountant tried to file online (within
the new timescales - after paper deadline but before online deadline)
but online submission failed due to a technical hitch (he suggested it
was a "rejection due to a sofware error"). He therefore had to file in
paper (and put a covering letter in explaining why). I paid tax due by
Jan 31 (hence the amount of GBP0 on the penalty notice).

My question: am I likely to be viewed as having a "black mark" on my
record (and therefore get detrimental treatment/attention at any point
in the future), or will I get any different treatment next year (e.g. he
filed late this year, therefore he has to file extra early next year),
or perhaps be on the receiving end of an enquiry. Any views (apocryphal
or factual) welcome.

I'm tempted to appeal against the Penalty Notice to get it taken off my
record, but it sounds even sadder appealing against a penalty ntoice of
GBP0. Also, no doubt filing an appeal against a penalty notice for GBP0
might antagonize HMRC further.

TIA

Allan

(X-post uk.finance & uk.legal.moderated)
(Apologies for re-post: initial attempts at posting on Sat 28 Feb & Mon
2 Feb didn't seem to arrive).

[Adrian]

Allan <inv...@invalid.invalid> gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

> My question: am I likely to be viewed as having a "black mark" on my
> record (and therefore get detrimental treatment/attention at any point
> in the future), or will I get any different treatment next year (e.g. he
> filed late this year, therefore he has to file extra early next year),
> or perhaps be on the receiving end of an enquiry. Any views (apocryphal
> or factual) welcome.

Very unlikely, I'd have thought.

I've had a few £100 "late filing" penalties over the past few years, due
to various cockups on the IR/HMC&R's part - it seems that they'd actually
got two of me on the system, for some reason. All were overturned
immediately when queried by my accountant, although one popped back up as
a "You've not paid it, so it's just doubled" - again, that went away
immediately, and stayed away.

I've never had any kind of investigation or change in deadline or
anything as a result.

[Roland Perry]

In message <714lsuF...@mid.individual.net>, at 12:30:08 on Tue, 3
Mar 2009, Adrian <tooma...@gmail.com> remarked:

>I've had a few £100 "late filing" penalties over the past few years, due
>to various cockups on the IR/HMC&R's part - it seems that they'd actually
>got two of me on the system, for some reason.

I had a "you've not paid" penalty one year - which was odd because the
cheque was attached to the tax form (and was never cashed). After that I
made sure I sent the form and the money to different places and all was
well. I don't think the incident affected my "credit rating" or whatever
with them.
--
Roland Perry

[The Todal]

"Allan" <inv...@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:714k56F...@mid.individual.net...

>I received a penalty notice from HMRC for GBP0 on Saturday (what a waste of
>time, paper and money).
>
> The reason for this is that my accountant tried to file online (within the
> new timescales - after paper deadline but before online deadline) but
> online submission failed due to a technical hitch (he suggested it was a
> "rejection due to a sofware error"). He therefore had to file in paper
> (and put a covering letter in explaining why). I paid tax due by Jan 31
> (hence the amount of GBP0 on the penalty notice).
>
> My question: am I likely to be viewed as having a "black mark" on my
> record (and therefore get detrimental treatment/attention at any point in
> the future), or will I get any different treatment next year (e.g. he
> filed late this year, therefore he has to file extra early next year), or
> perhaps be on the receiving end of an enquiry. Any views (apocryphal or
> factual) welcome.
>
> I'm tempted to appeal against the Penalty Notice to get it taken off my
> record, but it sounds even sadder appealing against a penalty ntoice of
> GBP0. Also, no doubt filing an appeal against a penalty notice for GBP0
> might antagonize HMRC further.
>

I am told that this year HMRC have excelled themselves by routinely failing
to match incoming payments against the individuals who have paid - large
numbers of penalty notices have therefore been issued by mistake.