< Go Back HMRC Repay £1.8M in penalties back to Parents Posted: Jun 12, 2019HMRC have now completed their review of cases where 'failure to notify'
penalties were issued to taxpayers who did not register for the High Income
Child Benefit Charge on time. This has resukted in some £1.8m being returned to parents.
The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) applies if an individual or their partner receives Child Benefit,
and one of them has net income of over £50,000 per year; the charge is applied through the self-assessment system.
HMRC reviewed the tax years 2013/14 to 2015/16 and considered if some taxpayers may have had a 'resonable excuse' for failing to notify HMRC of their liability to the charge on time. Generally a 'reasonable excuse' is something that
stopped someone from meeting a tax obligation that they took appropriate
care to try to meet.
HMRC reviewed 35,000 cases and they cancelled 6,000 penalties issuing refunds to 4,885 parents on the basis that they had a reasonable excuse.
HMRC have stated that all customers entitled to a refund will now have received one so there is no need to contact them on this matter.
This does not necessarily mean that HMRC's own review has properly established the position in the remaining 29,000 cases that still appear to be facing the charge and those parents may want to seek advice to make sure that the reasons they failed to advise HMRC of a liability to the charge do not amount to a 'resonable excuse' after all.
Dealing with HMRC or wading through the tax legislation is becoming more difficult than ever before; if you have trouble with the taxman, please contact us in complete confidence.
