COM100040 - Penalties: late delivery of returns: extra statutory concessions
General
This subject is now of historical interest only.
Extra statutory concession (ESC) B46 - automatic penalties for late company tax returns - ended on 31 March 2011 with the introduction of mandatory online filing of company tax returns. The concession was introduced in relation to paper returns but applied equally to returns filed online until it was withdrawn. The withdrawal of the concession was announced in Revenue & Customs Brief 24/10 (Word 31KB).
| Late company tax returns filed on or before 31/03/2011 | Late company tax returns filed after 31/03/2011 |
| ESC B46 may apply depending on the particular facts of a case (see below) | No extra statutory concession for any late return filed after 31/03/2011 for any accounting period |
Background
Before 1 April 2011, Extra Statutory Concessions B45 and B46 provided that a late filing penalty was not charged if the Technical Caseworker had the return before the expiry of a short period after the statutory filing date (Word 42KB).
The periods were
| Filing date 30/09/95 or earlier | Filing date 01/10/95 or later |
| Fourteen days after the filing date (ESC B45) | The period ending with the last business day falling within seven days after the statutory filing date (ESC B46)For more information see subject ‘Extra Statutory Concessions Last Business Day’ (COM100050) |
The text of the relevant parts of the original concession ESC B45 was reissued on 14/09/95 as Extra Statutory Concession ESC / B45 and ESC / B46 (Word 29KB).
The department did not charge a penalty for any return received in the concessionary period no matter what the reason for the delay.
Relationship with further time and reasonable excuse
If a return was received within the concessionary period no penalty was charged regardless of the reason for the delay.
If the return was received after the end of the concessionary period penalties were charged unless
- The company had a reasonable excuse for not having delivered the return by the statutory filing date
And
- It delivered the return as soon as could be expected after the excuse ran out
Note: The further time allowed under ‘Reasonable Excuse’ provisions was not added to the concessionary period.
Postal delays in the concessionary period
Postal delays (Word 29KB) occurring during the concessionary period were only relevant to the question of whether or not a penalty was charged, if the company
- Delivered the paper return after the end of the concessionary period
And
- Posted it at such a time that it could reasonably have expected delivery by the statutory filing date
Example 1 (Word 24KB) shows when to charge a penalty.
Example 2 (Word 25KB) shows when not to charge a penalty.
