Help please! Any chance I can appeal this HMRC penalty for a very, very late self assessment return?

[ReActiv]

I used to be a self employed cleaner full time, registered with HMRC.

I've taken on a bit of temporary self employed cleaning work again this summer, so logged on to my HMRC account to re-register as self employed.

I noticed that i am apparently way overdue filing a tax return for the year 2014-2015. I remember that I registered as self employed during May 2014 until August 2014, so did three months of cleaning work then. I sent of my paper tax return around this time last year - about a month before the October 31st deadline. Thought nothing more of it. I only made about £900 during those three months so didn't owe any tax.

Anyway, according to my account, i HAVE NOT filed my self assessment for that period. So i can only think my paper form got lost in the post. I apparently owe them £100 because this self assessment is overdue.

I'm now absolutely panic stricken as I've read online that if your return is over 3 months late, you are also charged an additional £10 per DAY on top of the £100 penalty.

What the hell can I do?

I have not received any correspondence either by post or email relating to this. I have not received a penalty notice. If i hadn't logged on today, i'd still be none the wiser!

I simply cannot afford this whatsoever. Apparently i need to complete an SA371 appeal form which would usually be enclosed in my penalty notice letter - only i didn't get any such letter! And according to their help page, unless I was hospitalised or there was a family death or i was a flood/fire victim, no other excuse will suffice. And a successful appeal will not be likely.

Can anyone offer any advice? I'm worried sick here. I will of course phone them tomorrow but worried what they'll say on the phone and would like to be prepared.

My ex appealed his, his late penalty racked up to £800! He also sent one in but it didn't get there apparently and he was away for a week so he just appealed, said he sent one in and had been away for a while and his original must have got lost in the post. He also sent a letter in from his mum saying that she knows for sure he sent it as she posted it for him! It worked and he never got charged the fee and they ended up owing him money. Hope you get the same outcome

Thank you so much. That is a huge relief. I'm drafting a letter to them just now.

I'd ring them and speak to them

I did something similar a little while ago - I came to the end of being self employed and could have sworn blind I had ticked the box on the tax return to say I was no longer self employed. I hadn't but I hadn't received a tax return through the post. I logged in to do my tax credits renewal I noticed it. I was something like 7 months late. I called them, got this lovely guy - I explained it in a total panic and they waived the fine.