Consultation on sanctions for late submission and late payment

HMRC’s consultation document Making Tax Digital – sanctions for late submission and late payment was published on 17 March 2017. It takes place at stage 2 of the consultation process – ‘determining the best option and developing a framework for implementation including detailed policy design’. Encouragingly, it demonstrates that HMRC have seriously considered comments made in response to both the February 2015 consultation (HMRC Penalties: a Discussion Document) and the August 2016 consultation (Making Tax Digital: Tax administration) and that the department wishes to explore the practicalities of the alternative structures for sanctions.

HMRC had already arranged separate meetings with CIOT, ATT and LITRG to discuss the alternative ideas set out in the consultation document when the announcement of the general election made it crucial for any meetings to be held in advance of the pre-election purdah period which began on 22 April. Those meetings were conducted in a promisingly open manner and provided a useful opportunity to share initial thoughts.

CIOT, ATT and LITRG are each likely to be preparing responses for submission to HMRC by the deadline date of 11 June 2017. Readers who might themselves wish to submit comments are recommended to read the consultation document (24 relatively digestible pages). Those who want more of an overview might instead read the summary prepared by Meg Wilson which appeared as the feature article in the 7 April editions of both News service for ATTs and News service for CTAs. (If you don’t receive either/both of these, please check that your personal details are up to date on the ATT/CIOT websites as they are free for all members).

If you would like your thoughts in relation to this consultation to be reflected in our formal responses or in any follow up discussions with HMRC, please copy them as appropriate to atttechnical@att.org.uk or technical@ciot.org.uk or litrg@ciot.org.uk.