Tax Penalty for late return – but I have returned it.

[klh]

As a trustee, I have made tax returns for 2 trusts online. The process was extremely difficult, with many unsuccessful submission attempts. Eventually I got the submissions working and filed returns on the 12th January. I then realised an error on the forms and re-submitted both as amendments on 13th January. This then seemed to go fine and I received the gateway notification that this was successful.

Yesterday I received a penalty for late return on one of the these trusts. It was very late last night when I got in, but I logged in and the account showed the £100 penalty, but also that the tax was returned on the 16th January – 3 days after the actual return, but this still should have been ok. Unfortunately, I didnt print the screen off as I presumed it would still be there this morning. This morning, I log in again and the account is showing the return on 12th January (so the original date and not the amendment) and also it still shows the penalty.

I have been trying to phone and query, but I get a few minutes on the line hearing recorded messages about referring to the website and choosing options to speak to an advisor to be finally told they are too busy and cut off. This was standard when I was having the original submission problems too, so with the deadline only days away I am unlikely to get through at all. There seems to be no email contact for trusts. It will be too late for me to get a written response.

In any event, I do not understand why I have received the penalty before the actual deadline, as 31st January was stamped on my reminder. The trusts were only set up this year, so there are no previous years to consider. No income was paid and no tax is due for the trusts.

What would you recommend that I do? I will keep trying to phone, but its difficult when they are only open when I am working and it just cuts me off anyway. Should I retrun the appeal and pay the fine in a couple of weeks, if I do not hear anything back? Should I try resubmitting the form again? Should I wait a couple of days and hope that hmrc identifies a mistake and corrects it? Any advice appreciated.

[pawncob]

Have you got the submission receipt?
No penalties can arise before the final submission date passes, so find out why the account shows penalties.

[klh]

Thanks for reply. I have the email notification, saying "Successful receipt of online submission for reference ..." which confirms date as 13-01-2011. I have logged back in again and now it says "Penalty cancelled on 25 Jan 2012" and deducts the £100 - so shows my account owing £0.00 again, which is some good news.

It is still showing my return as received on 12-Jan-2012 though, so I will be happier if that updates to the 13-Jan-2012 and then I would know they have the amended version. I think I will check back tomorrow and see whether it has been updated.
It seems that I am not the only one to have received this:- http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/anyanswers/question/late-filing-penalty-0
So I will keep an eye on that forum too. (Sorry, not sure how to make that an active link)

[klh]

RESOLVED: I managed to get through on telephone today. A very helpful lady explained that my online return had been incorrectly logged as a paper return, which triggered the penalty, because it was after the deadline for paper returns. She is sending me a copy of my account, by post, showing that the penalty has been removed. She also checked their portal and confirmed that they had received the amended tax return.

[pawncob]

How can an electronic return which is acknowledged and registered electronically be confused with a manual return?
What a load of claptrap.

PS. H<RC have extended the deadline to 02/02/12!