HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is to waive £100 fines for up to 890,000 people who failed to file their tax returns on time, according to reports.
The deadline for self-assessment tax returns was midnight on 31 January and those who fail to meet this have traditionally been threatened with a £100 fine.
However, HMRC will now waive this penalty for those people who provide a ‘reasonable’ excuse for filing a late return, the Daily Telegraph reported.
According to the paper HMRC is facing a backlog of almost one million letters and told the paper it wanted to focus its resources on ‘on investigating major tax avoidance and evasion’.
HMRC’s website carries of a list of excuses for late tax returns which it regards as reasonable.
