More than 1m face £100 HMRC fine after missing key deadline

A total of 1.1 million people missed the cut-off for filing their annual returns on Friday, HM Revenue and Customs () estimates.

They now face a fine of at least £100 for missing the deadline (the end of the day on the 31st), the authority says, though some may be able to avoid the penalty by providing a valid excuse.

Examples offered by include a partner or another close relative dying shortly before the tax return or payment deadline, or an unexpected hospital stay that prevented dealing with affairs.

You can find out more about valid excuses for late filing .

says over 11.5 million people completed the self-assessment process, 31,000 of whom cut it fine and finished it during the final hour before the deadline.

Those who have to submit a return annually include the self-employed and people who have more than one source of income.

Payment or organisation of the payment of owed must also be made. However, late payment penalties aren’t applied until March 1.

Anyone who fails file by midnight on January 31, 2025 must then pay a £100 late filing fine for returns that are submitted up to three months late.

Alastair Douglas, chief executive of TotallyMoney, said would automatically fine taxpayers £100 “as soon as the clock strikes midnight”.

“After that, you’ll have three months of breathing space before issues daily penalties of £10, up to a maximum of £900, with fines getting more severe after that.”

Myrtle Lloyd, the tax authority’s director general for customer services said: “I’m urging anyone who missed the deadline, to submit their return as soon as possible to avoid any further penalties.

Fines can be appealed by completing a form or by writing to , but only after a self-assessment has been completed.

It comes after recently denied claims by a committee of MPs it was deliberately lowering the standards of its phone services in an attempt to get push Britons online.

Chief executive Jim Harra dismissed the claims as “completely baseless”.