P35 fine for late submission

[conned tractor]

I have recieved on of those stinking £100 fines from HM for late submission of P35 (and something else mentioned on the letter, I think it was P14????).

My accountant, although I can't get in touch with him at the moment since he is on holiday, is ussually meticulate and sorts it all out for me - well I suppose thats what I pay him for. I really don't think it could have been his late submission, and if it was I am sure he would have told me.

So, has anyone else recieved a HM fine incorrectly, i.e. do they make mistakes?

And secondly, what is normal practice with regard to him paying the bloody thing if it is his fault?

Thirdly and a bit OT, isn't it wrong to charge more than it is costing them to send the letter i.e. postage and some admin time. Therefore an arbitary figure of £100 being unjust? Or does it pay for the shareholders bubbly?

Thanks in advance.

CT.

[thunderlizard]

My company got something similar a couple of years ago. They claimed corporation tax hadn't been paid and return hadn't been sent, which we knew wasn't right, because they'd credited the amount with an "unknown payment" of the tax amount; plus the cheque had been sent along with the return, so if they hadn't got the money they wouldn't have known how much was owing anyway.

They sent two £100 penalty charges a week apart which I paid in order to keep the bailiffs away, because they were pretty threatening letters. They also did that awful trick of blatently dating the letters weeks before sending them, so that a 30-day notice period was 5 days before the letter arrived.

The accountants made a phone call to the taxman and sent a letter, and they sorted it out pretty simply after that (but slowly), but I never got the £200 back.

[NotAllThere]

...
Thirdly and a bit OT, isn't it wrong to charge more than it is costing them to send the letter i.e. postage and some admin time. Therefore an arbitary figure of £100 being unjust? Or does it pay for the shareholders bubbly?...

You're confusing banks with HMRC.

[sweetandsour]

Thirdly and a bit OT, isn't it wrong to charge more than it is costing them to send the letter i.e. postage and some admin time. Therefore an arbitary figure of £100 being unjust? Or does it pay for the shareholders bubbly?

Shareholders? Do you mean other taxpayers?

In which case you could cut out the middle-man and send me the bubbly direct. From your £100 I calculate I'm due a micropipette full of Veuve Cliquot.

[xoggoth]

If it was the accountant's fault I would certainly expect him to pay the fine. A decent accountant would as a matter of course.

[philip@wellwoodhoyle]

If it was the accountant's fault I would certainly expect him to pay the fine. A decent accountant would as a matter of course.

Exactly! If a client of ours incurred a fine because of our fault, we'd pay the fine without argument. It's part of our service commitment - it concentrates the mind on getting things right and submitted on time if we know it will cost us if we screw up!!!

[conned tractor]

Thanks for the replies all.

I really don't think the accountant would mess up and I know he did it do becuase he charged me for doing it.

[jmo21]

Thanks for the replies all.

I really don't think the accountant would mess up and I know he did it do becuase he charged me for doing it.

but not whether he did it on time obviously.....

[conned tractor]

To update:

Got hold of accountant who confessed that it was in fact his fault and offered to pay the fine in full.

Also said his wife who works with him was furious as he had managed to file loads late and was facing having to pay many of his customers fines.