The Government's £100 fine for late tax returns could be scrapped for hundreds of thousands of people who return the forms “a day or two” late

Hundreds of thousands of people will no longer be hit with £100 fines for failing to complete their income tax returns on time, under radical government plans.HM Revenue & Customs has admitted that its penalties regime may be too rigid, and is drawing up proposals to end fines for taxpayers who miss the deadline “by a day or two”.New rules outlined for public consultation could see people who owe the government tax charged higher interest rates on their debts to encourage them to pay sooner, instead of being hit with automatic fines. A system of penalty points – similar to motoring offences - could also be introduced so that financial sanctions apply only to people who persistently fail to pay their tax bills. The plan, which will be open for public comments until May, comes after figures showed 890,000 people missed the January 31 deadline for completing their income tax self-assessments last week. They now face an escalating scale of penalties, starting with an automatic £100 fine.....Read more here