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Call to scrap late-filing penalties for non-taxpayers

Nearly 400,000 self-employed people on low incomes are being penalised for filing their tax returns late when most of them don't owe any tax.

Call to scrap late-filing penalties for non-taxpayers
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Penalties can build up until people owe thousands of pounds, according to Tax Policy Associates.

The non-profit called for penalties to be cancelled if HMRC finds people have no taxable income.

HMRC said new rules would mean people who sometimes miss a filing deadline would not be penalised.

Tax Policy Associates revealed that Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi paid a penalty over previously unpaid tax while he was chancellor.

The boss of HMRC told MPs on Thursday there were no penalties for "innocent" tax errors.

Nearly 12 million self-employed people need to fill out self-assessment tax returns each year.

Through Freedom of Information requests to HMRC, Tax Policy Associates found that nearly 400,000 people earning less than £13,000 received a penalty for not filing a tax return on time between 2018 and 2020.

Read more at BBC News

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