Brits have hours to avoid £100 fine for missing tax deadline | Personal Finance | Finance

Brits have less than 24 hours to meet a tax payment deadline that could see them slapped with penalties starting at £100 if they don’t act swiftly.

Today is the final day for self-employed income earners to pay their tax bill, specifically for those who have opted to make advance payments on their yearly bill rather than settling the hefty sum at the end of January.

This July 31st deadline follows after 1.1 million self-assessors missed the tax return filing deadline this past January.

Penalties for late payments start at £100 if your tax return is up to three months late.

The penalty also begins to accrue interest if it’s still not paid after three months, eating into the profits of self-employed individuals.

However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel for those who can’t meet today’s deadline.

HMRC does accept some reasonable excuses for late payments, such as unexpected hospital stays or postal delays but more common excuses will still be met with a firm penalty.

This includes payments bouncing due to lack of funds or making an error in your tax return.

Kyle Eaton, a finance expert at Money.co.uk, has urged self-employed workers to stay on top of their finances, including important deadlines like today, in order to accurately report and pay their taxes on time.

He suggested: “Identifying the key dates and setting reminders can alleviate one of the biggest reasons why tax returns are either not filed at all or are wrongly submitted – which is that insufficient time was allocated to it.”

Among other top tips from the business bank accounts expert was the advice to have a dedicated business bank account to avoid any confusion or overlap between business and personal finances for those who are self-employed. He also pointed out that these individuals “don’t have to do everything on your own” as they can employ professionals such as accountants to “take some of the pressure off”.

Kyle further added: “When you’re freelance or self-employed, it’s also vital to protect your income and budget accurately, as you don’t have the same level of income guarantee as an employed person.

“Therefore proper money management and adhering to deadlines like this one is key in preventing additional costly expenses, in the form of fines and interest, resulting from late or inaccurate payments.”