100 pound HMRC fine for not filling out a self assessment form

[Franticdad92]

HMRC have fined me 100 pound for not filling out a self assessment form. I'm employed not self employed and once a year I use to fill out a mileage rebate form annually because I was driving to a temporary place of work.

My circumstances have now changed and I drive an electric car and didn't claim for the mileage rebate this year.

Is this something I can argue ? Or, despite being a fully PAYE employee do I need to fill out a self assessment form annually ?

Many thanks

Lewis

If your circumstances have changed and you no longer need to fill out the mileage form then that’s something HMRC expect you to have told them about.

You could try and argue it I guess but I would pay it first then argue after as you don’t want any late penalties or further fines.

Give them a call - they're usually pretty reasonable.

Yes, once you fill in a self assessment form you have to keep filling them in unless they tell you other wise.

You can appeal and ask for it to be cancelled

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-when-to-appeal-a-self-assessment-penalty-for-late-filing-or-late-payment

If they send you a reminder then you have to do it.

I had to do one for two years after I stopped working freelance, even though I moved to PAYE.

it’s worth giving them a ring and trying to argue your case.

They’re pretty reasonable if you can get hold of them. Spent several hours holding and being cut off last week. Gave up and paid without querying in the end, which is probably the idea!

I got a fine last year for not filling in the form to tell them I owed nothing. (It was our error, we thought we had submitted it!).

If they ask you to complete one (they usually send the notices every April), then you have to complete it whether you think there's a need or not. You can phone them to ask them to cancel the "notice to file" which they may or may not do according to what you tell them, what's on their file, and the attitude of the call handler you speak to. It's probably 50:50 whether they'll still want you to do one and not cancel the fine, or whether they're cancel the "notice to file" in which case you don't have to do one and the fine will get cancelled. If you do nothing, you'll get another late filing fine, and another, and another until you either submit or they agree to withdraw the "notice to file". You really can't ignore HMRC as the fines will just escalate, whether you think there's a need or not.

I got fined in a similar way. I used to earn between £50-60k which meant that when claiming Child Benefit I needed to do the self-assessment to work out the rebate that I owed them. I am now fortunate enough to earn over £60k, have stopped claiming CB at all and thus don't fill in a self-assessment form.
I didn't inform HMRC of the change, so when they failed to receive a self assessment form from me they sent a fine. I rang them and it was sorted in about five minutes when I apologised and explained the situation. The fine was cancelled.
Hopefully you will have similar luck.

If you have previously done one then you need to keep doing them until they agree you can stop. Or if they tell you to do one then you have to.
Give them a call (may be on hold for a bit) but they are usually pretty helpful and quite nice when you do get through.
You may still have to pay but won't have to do another one next year

Do not argue with them. You need to fully accept responsibility apologise and they will usually waive it. Make it clear you know it was your fault don’t suggest it’s their process.

The limit has now moved to £80k after pension contributions so it might be worth you claiming again.

Call them and explain you didn't realise you still had to do one as you are no longer claiming the mileage. If you get a sympathetic person there's a good chance they'll cancel the fine. Also ask them to change their records to show you no longer need to file it going forward, or you'll have the same issue next year.