You are here: silicon.com > Financial Services > News

HMRC waives late fee after site crash

The taxman has a heart…

Tags: fines, hmrc, outage, website

By Tim Ferguson

Published: 5 February 2008 15:32 GMT

People filing their tax returns online over the weekend will be exempt from a £100 late filing penalty, following problems with the HMRC Self Assessment Online website.

A-Zs…

1. Security from A-Z…

2. Biometrics from A-Z…

3. Broadband from A-Z…

4. Wireless from A-Z…

5. Green IT from A-Z…

The HMRC self assessment tax website was unavailable for a large part of the day on 31 January, which was the deadline for filing self-assessment tax returns online.

As a result of the problem, the deadline was initially extended by 24 hours to the end of Friday 1 February, with users not being fined for filing after the original deadline.

But with many people also unable to access the website on the Friday and with more than 7,000 people filing on either Saturday or Sunday 2/3 February, the late-filing penalty has also been waived for these days.

An HMRC spokesman told silicon.com: "If [people] receive a penalty, they can write to us under reasonable excuse provisions and we will look at the case."

On Thursday alone, more than 200,000 people successfully filed their tax returns online, despite the website problems.

A record 3.7 million people filed their tax return online by the 31 January deadline.

  1. Zones
  2. Management
  3. Networks
  4. Software
  5. IT Services
  6. Hardware
  1. Verticals
  2. Public Sector
  3. Financial Services
  4. Retail & Leisure

silicon.com Financial Services
Get the latest financial services news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the FS newsletter today!


  • Jobs
Security Manager

Compile relevant reports, returns and statistics relating to information security. Ensure that the anti-virus software is updated automatically as ...

SIMS Helpdesk (Assessment Manager or Finance)

I require someone with either SIMS.net Core and either strengths in Assessment and Performance or in the finance (fms6) modules particularly Dinner ...

SIMS Specialist/Consultant

Data Tracking - Sept deadline for system SIMS Assessment and Attendance skills Schools pupil assessment and attendance - In Depth knowledge SIMS ...

Agenda Setters 2008
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.




Quick Sitemap Links: