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Status at 27 October 2026: these penalties apply to the 2025 to 2026 return
GOV.UK says the 2025 to 2026 online return and the tax are due by 11:59pm on 31 January 2027, and that a paper return had to reach HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by 31 October 2026. The penalties below are the current ones for those returns. GOV.UK says new points-based penalties apply from the tax year you join Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: see our penalty appeal guide.
The short version
- Four late filing penalties can build up: £100 at once, up to £900 in daily penalties after three months, then penalties after six months and twelve months. For each of the last two it is 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater.
- They are separate from late payment penalties, which are 5% of the tax unpaid at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months, plus interest.
- Filing stops the clock. Daily penalties are charged for each day the failure continues, and the 6 and 12-month penalties apply only if the return is still outstanding at those points.
- HMRC can charge a later penalty even if it has not charged an earlier one, according to its manual.
- Each penalty has its own notice and its own appeal. You usually have 30 days from the date on the notice.
When each penalty starts
The law is in Finance Act 2009, Schedule 55. The “penalty date” is the day after the filing date. Each later penalty applies only if the failure continues after a set period beginning with that day. These dates are our arithmetic from the Schedule, so the dates in your own notice are what count.
| Penalty | Amount | Online return, due 31 January 2027 | Paper return, due 31 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | £100 | From 1 February 2027 | From 1 November 2026 |
| Daily | £10 a day, up to 90 days, at most £900 | Earliest start 1 May 2027 | Earliest start 1 February 2027 |
| 6 months | The greater of 5% of the tax due or £300 | If still not filed after 31 July 2027 | If still not filed after 30 April 2027 |
| 12 months | The greater of 5% of the tax due or £300 (more if information was deliberately withheld) | If still not filed after 31 January 2028 | If still not filed after 31 October 2027 |
An HMRC penalty notice quoted in a recent tribunal case, for the 2023 to 2024 return, said daily penalties could be charged “starting from 01 February 2025 for paper returns or 01 May 2025 for online returns” (Berry v HMRC [2026] UKFTT 1451 (TC)). That fits the table: the same three-month gap after the paper and online deadlines.
The £100 penalty
Paragraph 3 of Schedule 55 says you are liable to a penalty of £100 if you miss the filing date. It has no condition about how much tax you owe. The notices in the cases below, for example, told taxpayers to file even if they thought no tax was due. This is the penalty most appeals concern. If you appeal it, see how to appeal online or on form SA370.
The £10 a day penalty
What the law says. Paragraph 4 of Schedule 55 says you are liable only if three things are true:
- your failure continues after the end of the three months beginning with the penalty date;
- HMRC decide such a penalty should be payable; and
- HMRC give you notice specifying the date from which the penalty is payable.
The penalty is £10 for each day the failure continues during the 90 days beginning with the date in the notice. The date can be earlier than the day HMRC sends the notice, but not earlier than the end of the three months. That is why the maximum is £900: 90 days at £10.
What the courts have said. In Donaldson v HMRC [2016] EWCA Civ 761 the Court of Appeal looked at a taxpayer whose paper return for 2010 to 2011 was late. HMRC had sent a reminder and a penalty notice before the three months were up saying a £10 daily penalty would be charged if the return was more than three months late, with daily penalties starting from 1 February. The Court of Appeal decided that HMRC’s high-level policy decision to charge daily penalties to everyone more than three months late was a valid decision for paragraph 4, and that a notice given before the three months ended can be a good notice. The assessment did not state the period the daily penalties covered, but a saving provision in section 114 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 meant that did not invalidate it.
Our reading: a taxpayer who argues “HMRC never decided to charge me daily penalties” is unlikely to win on that point alone. Check instead whether you received any notice at all, and whether it gave a start date.
Filing stops them. The daily penalty is for each day the failure continues, so filing ends the accrual. The maximum is £900 for one return.
The 6-month and 12-month penalties
Paragraph 5 says you are liable if your failure continues after the end of six months beginning with the penalty date. Paragraph 6 does the same at twelve months. In the ordinary case, each is the greater of:
- 5% of any liability to tax which would have been shown in the return; and
- £300.
”The tax which would have been shown in the return” is the tax a complete and accurate return would have shown as due (paragraph 24). If HMRC assess the penalty before you file, it estimates the figure to the best of its information and belief. When you then file, the penalty must be reassessed using the tax shown in the return. If your tax bill is small, the £300 minimum applies. In the Berry case the taxpayer was due a refund of £2,514.14 of tax deducted under the Construction Industry Scheme once he filed, but a six-month penalty of £300 and a twelve-month penalty of £300 were still charged.
| Tax due on the return | 5% of the tax | Penalty at 6 months, and again at 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| £0 or a refund | £0 | £300 |
| £4,000 | £200 | £300 |
| £6,000 | £300 | £300 |
| £10,000 | £500 | £500 |
Deliberate withholding. After 12 months a higher penalty applies if, by failing to file, you deliberately withheld information that would have helped HMRC assess your tax. Paragraph 6 sets the penalty at the greater of £300 and 70% of the tax where information was deliberately withheld but not concealed, or 100% where it was deliberately withheld and concealed, with higher percentages for some offshore matters. HMRC’s manual says the nature and quality of your disclosure also affects the percentage, and that this is the only late filing penalty that looks at your behaviour. In the Harrison case below, HMRC charged 35%, which the Upper Tribunal described as the minimum percentage for that case within a 35% to 70% range.
The cap. The total of tax-geared penalties for one return cannot exceed 100% of the tax liability for the ordinary case (paragraph 17). The £100 and daily penalties are fixed amounts and are not part of that calculation. We have not found a source on how this cap works alongside the £300 minimum where the tax is small.
How big it can get. In Harrison v HMRC [2022] UKUT 216 (TCC) a director filed his 2014 to 2015 return, due 31 January 2016, on 13 September 2018. The 12-month penalty was £42,066.09. The First-tier and Upper Tribunals rejected his arguments that he had a reasonable excuse, that there were special circumstances and that he had not deliberately withheld information. That is an extreme case, but it shows why a return should be filed even if you cannot pay or are worried about the figures.
What can reduce or cancel a penalty
- Reasonable excuse. If you satisfy HMRC or a tribunal that you had one, no liability arises for any of these penalties for that failure (paragraph 23). It must last until you file, or you must have filed without unreasonable delay after it ended. See our guide to reasonable excuse examples. In Wals v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1331 (TC) the tribunal cancelled the penalty for the first year but not for later years, because after the first penalty notice the taxpayer was on notice that his accountant was failing.
- Special circumstances. Paragraph 16 lets HMRC reduce a penalty “because of special circumstances”, but it says this does not include ability to pay. In Wals the tribunal quoted the Upper Tribunal in Barry Edwards v HMRC [2019] UKUT 131 (TCC) that “special circumstances” should not be given a narrow meaning, and said Edwards is authority that the fixed penalty regime is proportionate. It also said that, under HMRC v Hok Ltd [2012] UKUT 363 (TCC), it has no jurisdiction to consider whether a penalty is unfair. A tribunal can change an HMRC decision on special circumstances only if that decision was flawed in the judicial review sense (paragraph 22).
- No penalty if HMRC cannot prove it. HMRC must prove a notice to file was given and that the penalty notices were properly issued. See our appeal guide.
- Time limits. HMRC must assess a penalty within two years of the filing date. If a later date applies, it is a year after the appeal period for the related tax assessment ends or, if there is no assessment, a year after the liability is ascertained (paragraph 19).
Paying and appealing
A penalty must be paid within 30 days of the notice (paragraph 18). GOV.UK says to use your 11-character reference, your Unique Taxpayer Reference followed by the letter K. GOV.UK also says you should consider paying if you appeal, because if the appeal fails you will owe interest on the penalty from the date it was due, while if you appeal and have not paid, you will not have to pay until the appeal is settled. Both statements are on GOV.UK, so choose with your circumstances in mind.
Each penalty has its own notice. In Berry the tribunal could not consider the 12-month penalty because it was issued after the appeal reached the tribunal. If you receive another notice, appeal that one as well.
Late payment penalties are separate
GOV.UK says that if you pay your tax late you get penalties of 5% of the tax unpaid at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months, and are charged interest. Schedule 56 sets out the details. Its “penalty date” is the day after the date in its table, which for this tax is 30 days after 31 January. The first penalty applies if tax is unpaid after that date, and the second and third if it is unpaid after five and eleven months beginning with the penalty date (paragraph 3), which is why they fall about six and twelve months after the deadline. For the 2025 to 2026 tax due on 31 January 2027, our arithmetic is:
| Penalty | Rate | Applies if the tax is still unpaid |
|---|---|---|
| First | 5% of the unpaid tax | After 2 March 2027 |
| Second | 5% of the unpaid tax | After 2 August 2027 |
| Third | 5% of the unpaid tax | After 2 February 2028 |
The tax and interest are separate from these. File on time and pay late and only the payment penalties apply. File late and pay on time and only the filing penalties apply.
Our kit
The HMRC Self Assessment Penalty Appeal Pack includes a facts sheet with the penalty amounts, a timeline worksheet with your 30-day dates and a tracker with one row for each penalty. It does not send anything to HMRC and does not guarantee a result.
Frequently asked questions
Do daily penalties start automatically?
Not under the law. HMRC must decide to charge them and give notice of the date from which they are payable. In Donaldson, reminders and a penalty notice sent before the three months were up, giving the start date, were enough.
Can I be charged the 6-month penalty if I have not been charged daily penalties?
HMRC’s manual says yes: a person becomes liable to the further or daily penalties even if HMRC has not charged some or all of the previous ones.
I owe no tax. Do these penalties still apply?
The £100 penalty does. The 6 and 12-month penalties are the greater of 5% of the tax and £300, so £300 each applies even where no tax is due, according to the wording of the Schedule. In Berry the £100, daily and six-month penalties were upheld although the taxpayer was due a refund.
Is the £900 maximum for daily penalties per return?
Paragraph 4 sets £10 a day for 90 days, so £900 is the maximum for one return.
What about partnerships?
GOV.UK says all partners are charged a penalty if a partnership return is late, and our guide on appealing online or on form SA370 mentions the SA371 form.
Sources
Last checked 27 October 2026.
- Self Assessment tax returns: deadlines and penalties and Pay a Self Assessment penalty, GOV.UK
- Appeal a Self Assessment penalty for late filing or late payment and Disagree with a tax decision or penalty, GOV.UK
- Finance Act 2009, Schedule 55 and Schedule 56, legislation.gov.uk
- Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, GOV.UK
- Compliance Handbook: CH62020 (types of penalties), CH65040 (maximum penalties) and CH160000 (reasonable excuse), HMRC internal manual
- [Donaldson v HMRC [2016] EWCA Civ 761](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewca/civ/2016/761), [Harrison v HMRC [2022] UKUT 216 (TCC)](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukut/tcc/2022/216), [Wals v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1331 (TC)](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukftt/tc/2025/1331) and [Berry v HMRC [2026] UKFTT 1451 (TC)](https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukftt/tc/2026/1451), National Archives Find Case Law
- [Barry Edwards v HMRC [2019] UKUT 131 (TCC)](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ccb059240f0b64c1e187680/Barry_Edwards_vs_The_Commissioners_for_Her_Majesty_s_Revenue___Customs.pdf), Upper Tribunal, GOV.UK
Changes to this guide
- 27 October 2026: Published.
This guide is general information written from the official sources listed above and checked on 27 October 2026. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and Plainfiles is not endorsed by any government body. Rules change, so check the linked official pages for your own situation. Written and designed by Plainfiles with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, then checked against the official legislation and guidance listed in the sources. How we write and check our guides.