PART 5PENALTIES

CHAPTER 2PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO MAKE RETURNS OR PAY TAX

Penalty for failure to make tax return

118Penalty for failure to make tax return on or before filing date

A person is liable to a penalty of £100 if the person fails to make a tax return on or before the filing date.

119Penalty for failure to make tax return within 6 months from filing date

(1)A person is liable to a penalty if the person’s failure to make a tax return continues after the end of the period of 6 months beginning with the day after the filing date.

(2)The penalty is the greater of—

(a)5% of the amount of the devolved tax to which the person would have been liable if the tax return had been made, and

(b)£300.

120Penalty for failure to make tax return within 12 months from filing date

(1)A person is liable to a penalty if the person’s failure to make a tax return continues after the end of the period of 12 months beginning with the day after the filing date.

(2)Where, by failing to make the tax return, the person deliberately withholds information which would enable or assist WRA to assess the person’s liability to a devolved tax, the penalty is the greater of—

(a)100% of the amount of the devolved tax to which the person would have been liable if the tax return had been made, and

(b)£300.

(3)In any case not falling within subsection (2), the penalty is the greater of—

(a)5% of the amount of the devolved tax to which the person would have been liable if the tax return had been made, and

(b)£300.

121Reduction in penalty for failure to make tax return: disclosure

(1)WRA may reduce a penalty under section 118, 119 or 120 if the person discloses information which has been withheld as a result of a failure to make a tax return (“relevant information”).

(2)A person discloses relevant information by—

(a)telling WRA about it,

(b)giving WRA reasonable help in quantifying any devolved tax unpaid by reason of the information having been withheld, and

(c)allowing WRA access to records for the purpose of checking how much devolved tax is so unpaid.

(3)In reducing a penalty under this section, WRA may take account of—

(a)whether the disclosure was prompted or unprompted, and

(b)the quality of the disclosure.

(4)Disclosure of relevant information—

(a)is “unprompted” if made at a time when the person making the disclosure has no reason to believe that WRA has discovered or is about to discover the relevant information, and

(b)otherwise, is “prompted”.

(5)“Quality”, in relation to disclosure, includes timing, nature and extent.