Bohemian Rhapsody actor, Rami Malek won the Oscar for Best Actor at last night's award ceremony. Sadly his triumph was somewhat marred when he fell off the stage and took an embarrassing tumble into the audience. Thankfully the only damage incurred was to his pride.
Equally red faced must be HMRC who have admitted that they will be late in sending out penalty notices to the estimated 746,000 taxpayers who missed the 31st January deadline for submitting tax returns. HMRC normally sends out warnings in February but have confirmed that this year some will not be sent until late April. From 1st May the standard £100 late payment fine rises by £10 per day, so when letters arrive, penalties may already be accruing.
HMRC blamed increased workload from Brexit for the delay but said 'no-one would be unfairly penalised as a result of this change. The vast majority will be aware that they missed the January 31st deadline as we do remind regularly with nudge messages before the deadline' However tax industry experts believe that the new system falls short and has pressed HMRC to confirm that they will take into account the late issuing of notices when considering higher fines.