Penalties for self assessment

[Yiannis17]

Hi

I wanted to confirm the situation regarding HMRC and penalties for the submission of tax returns. If someone files a'voluntary' tax return for previous years not requested by HMRC, my understanding is they not should be given a penalty. Interest yes on any over due tax. I have a situation now where someone wants to submit tax returns ( voluntarily) for 2015 and 2016 and is concerned about getting penalties.

Thank you

[AGoodman]

Presumably if they had a liability for that year there could be a penalty for failure to notify:

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/tax-basics/when-things-go-wrong/tax-penalties