HM Revenue and Customs Brief 24/10
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Issued 2 June 2010
Extra Statutory Concession (ESC) B46 - automatic penalties for late company
and employers’ and contractors’ end-of-year returns
Purpose of this brief
This Revenue & Customs brief announces that ESC B46 will come to an end on 31
March 2011. Customers submitting Company Tax returns and employers’ end-of-year
returns after this date must make sure the returns are submitted to us by the
required dates.
Readership:
All those required to file Company Tax returns, and Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
end-of-year returns (forms P35 and P14).
Background:
ESC B46 was introduced in 1995. Under this concession, we will not issue
penalties for late filing of Company Tax returns or employers’ and contractors’
(Construction Industry Scheme) end-of-year returns, provided they are received
by the last working day within seven days of the filing date. The ESC ensured
that penalties would not be charged when customers had taken all reasonable
steps to file the returns on time, but were prevented from doing so, for example
due to postal delays.
Online filing
From 1 April 2011, Company Tax returns for accounting periods ending after 31
March 2010 must be filed online. All forms P35 and P14 must already be filed
online, and we will no longer accept paper returns from the majority of
customers. Contractors are no longer required to file end-of-year Construction
Industry Scheme returns. ESC B46 has therefore become redundant because the
possible causes of late filing it was intended to address can no longer arise.
Therefore, ESC B46 will come to an end on 31 March 2011. Customers submitting
Company Tax returns and employers' end-of-year returns after this date must make
sure the returns are submitted to us by the required dates.
Any customers filing a return late will, as now, be able to request us to
remove any penalty, if they believe they had a reasonable excuse for the delay
in filing. We will consider every case on its own merits. Customers can also
appeal against the penalty to a Tribunal.
About the Author
© Crown Copyright 2010.
A licence is needed to reproduce this article and has been republished for
educational / informational purposes only. Article reproduced by permission of
HM Revenue & Customs under the terms of a Click-Use Licence. Tax briefs are
updated regularly and may be out of date at time of reading.
