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Tax office imposed more than £12m. in fines for late returns

More than £6m.-worth of fines for late tax returns were imposed for each of the 2021 and 2022 tax years.

About 33,000 personal returns were expected for the 2022 tax year.
About 33,000 personal returns were expected for the 2022 tax year. / Guernsey Press

But more than three months after the deadline for the 2023 returns passed, no late fines have so far been imposed.

The details were revealed in a freedom of information request.

In 2021 fines totalling £6,098,840 were levied on more than 2,800 individuals for late returns and on 1,704 companies.

And numbers grew for 2022, hitting 3,636 individual taxpayers, though companies fell slightly at 1,507, with the fines totalling £6,397,540.

About 33,000 personal returns were expected for the 2022 tax year.

The fines were based on an initial penalty of £200 for individuals and £300 for companies, with subsequent £50 daily penalties until the form is received.

However, it may not reflect how much money was actually gathered, as the FOI notes it included values for penalties later rescinded.

For 2021 more than 800 individual return fines and 657 company fines were rescinded, while for 2022 returns it was 558 and 293.

There was a number of reasons penalties could be rescinded, a Policy & Resources spokesman said.

These include an individual’s income falling under their allowance, someone leaving the island without telling the tax office or someone suffering a life-threatening illness or the onset of a disability, which meant they were unable to complete the return.

Despite the fines, there are still 1,700 personal returns for 2021 and 1,990 for 2022 still outstanding.

There are fewer than 500 outstanding company returns for each of the years.

The deadline for the 2023 tax return was at the end of January. There were expected to be more tax returns than ever before, as this was the first year spouses could not jointly file their returns. This led to some stress for some islanders.

But no penalties have been imposed yet, it has been confirmed.

‘The Revenue Service is focused on supporting customers with filing outstanding returns and issuing interim tax and contributions assessments to ensure timely collection of 2025 tax revenues,’ the spokesman said.

The tax office has been suffering backlogs in handling forms for many years. The most recent figures from November 2024 showed that 2020 returns were still being processed, while only about half of personal returns from 2022 had been dealt with at that point.

The deadline for 2024 returns is 30 November.

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