On 19 February, HMRC announced that they will not charge late payment penalties for Self Assessment taxpayers until after midnight on 1 April. This is in addition to the extension for late filing until 28 February.
Ordinarily, a 5% penalty is charged on late payment of January Self-Assessment liabilities, but the penalty does not apply until 30 days after the deadline of 31 January. This gives taxpayers a de-facto 30 day grace period.
The change means that this extension extends to midnight, 1 April. As long as the liability due on 31 January 2021 is paid before midnight 1 April 2021, or a Time to Pay arrangement is reached, no penalty will be due.
Interest will continue to be charged on late payments from 31 January 2021 onwards. The current rates can be found here.
