Failure to deliver return: flat-rate penalty
17(1)A company which is required to deliver a company tax return and fails to do so by the filing date is liable to a flat-rate penalty under this paragraph.
It may also be liable to a tax-related penalty under paragraph 18.
(2)The penalty is—
(a)£100, if the return is delivered within three months after the filing date, and
(b)£200, in any other case.
(3)The amounts are increased to £500 and £1000 for a third successive failure, that is, where—
(a)the company is within the charge to corporation tax for three consecutive accounting periods (and at no time between the beginning of the first of those periods and the end of the last is it outside the charge to corporation tax),
(b)a company tax return is required for each of those accounting periods,
(c)the company was liable to a penalty under this paragraph in respect of each of the first two of those periods, and
(d)the company is again liable to a penalty under this paragraph in respect of the third period.
(4)The first or second period mentioned in sub-paragraph (3) may be a period ending before the self-assessment appointed day, in relation to which—
(a)the reference in paragraph (b) to a company tax return shall be construed as a reference to a return under section 11 of the [1970 c. 9.] Taxes Management Act 1970, and
(b)the references in paragraphs (c) and (d) to a penalty under this paragraph shall be construed as a reference to a penalty under section 94 of that Act.