Accidentally Failed to file Income Tax Return for 2014

Tomc77

I completed my Form 11 by submitting online and paid the outstanding tax for 2014 and preliminary tax for 2015.

I got a receipt for the payment and assumed this meant everything was fine. Then earlier this month I received a "Failure to File Income Tax Return" notice. Upon checking with ROS they were able to tell me the form wasn't actually submitted. I then logged in found the return in works in progress and submitted the return.

A few days later I received a fine for late payment of €720 (equivalent to 10% of the total liability for 2014).

I am going to appeal it obviously. I have submitted for the past 4 years without issue but for some reason the file didn't submit this time. I know I hit sign and submit as this is how I paid the outstanding tax. I will need to give revenue a reason. Does anyone know of a reason this may of happened (don't say stupidity!!) perhaps a known website or browser glitch etc.?

Anyone done this and got off?

It says I need to pay the €720 before I can appeal. This seems harsh. Do I need to pay it?

Finally if they are taking 10% of the liability is my actual liability €2000 and not €7000 as I had paid €5000 preliminary tax already. (This would reduce the fine to €200).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Punkyblip

As regards the 10% surcharge, my understanding is that Revenue calculate the surcharge on your liability before taking into account paid preliminary tax, but I'm open to correction on that.

I would say your at their mercy regarding any appeal. But I would ring them first and explain that there must have been a technical problem. Also stress to them your good track record both with submission of returns and payment of liabilities.

And ring both Inspector of Taxes, Collector Generals and ROS technical Dept. Someone in some department might see it from your point of view and waive the surcharge.

And if it don't work over the phone then proceed with appeal. Bring a few bottles of brandy to the appeal to soften them up!

casheltipp

I’ve just discovered I’ve a very similar issue with ROS for a 2014 return.
I’m nearly 100% certain that the return was signed and submitted last August.
Now I see a red flag for late return at the end of the returns list for 2014.
I went to check my own accounts and found that I had made a pdf copy of said return with a date from last August.

Is their an issue with ROS certs and using Mac OS X and Safari

Looks like I’m, out of pocket on this as well but cannot go to the grief of calling Revenue.

gerrybbadd

It should be noted that all appeals now have to be referred directly to the Tax Appeals Commission, rather than to Revenue themselves

http://taxappeals.ie/

Pawwed Rig

I have generally been sucessful with appeals where innocent error was the reason. Give exact details of what you thought happened and what actually happened along with a paragraph outlining that you are always tax compliant and thought you were in this case. Tell them you would be greatful if they could remove the surcharge in this instance.
Revenue tend to be reasonable enough in most regards and are not looking to punish innocent tax payers.

barneystinson

gerrybbadd wrote: »

It should be noted that all appeals now have to be referred directly to the Tax Appeals Commission, rather than to Revenue themselves

http://taxappeals.ie/

I'd think you'd be much better off by seeing if the tax office in question will waive the surcharge, before getting into the formal appeals process.

If you go down that road, the appeal commissioner can only look at the legislation and the facts, and if you can't prove the self assessment happened then you're goosed.

Tomc77

Apologies for not getting back to the thread I started.

The revenue waived the surcharge on the basis it was the first time there was an issue and they could see I'd already paid the amount due to them.

Although revenue do require that you pay the surcharge before appealing, the local tax office said that in my circumstances if I just appealed I may not have to, so I didn't.

Thanks for your help.