Missed the tax return deadline

Missed the tax return deadline?

Sometimes life gets in the way of your plans. You’ve missed the tax deadline- so what happens now?

Every year thousands of tax payers miss the extended deadline for income tax returns so you are certainly not alone. We are here to help you figure out the next steps, if you haven’t filed your tax return yet.

What to do first

First things first- get the return in. In the first instance you will have to pay a surcharge of 5% of your tax liability however if you let this run up to 2 months the surcharge will increase to 10%. So, get your paperwork together and file the return online or on paper.

What will the penalties be?

This depends on what your tax liability is. On the surcharges, take for example a self-employed person earing €70,000 a year and paying tax of probably over €20,000. Their first fine will be over €1,000.  As well as the surcharges, Revenue can also apply interest at a daily rate of 0.0219% per day. Unfortunately, the interest will be backdated to the 31 October deadline rather than the online extended deadline of 17 November.

Can I get Revenue to waive penalties?

Revenue may waive charges for anyone who offers a reasonable excuse for being late. For example if you were very ill and had a note from a Doctor outlining this. Other acceptable reasons may be IT failure with your Revenue cert, if you can show you have always paid on time etc. In general however, the Revenue are fairly strict when it comes to applying their penalties.

What should I do if I can’t pay my taxes?

Lots of people find themselves in this position. The most important thing is to not ignore Revenue, get your tax return in now and then engage with the Revenue about fines and how you will pay your tax bill. In most situations they are willing to work with you to sort out the situation perhaps by agreeing an instalment plan. 

We Can Help

Over the last few weeks TaxAssist Accountants have been working with thousands of individuals across Ireland on their tax returns. If you need assistance filing your Income Tax Return please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Date published 30 Nov 2015

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.