HMRC Announces Extra Statutory Concession To Come To An End Next Year

HMRC has announced that Extra Statutory Concession (ESC) B46 will come to an end on 31 March 2011. Businesses submitting Company Tax returns and employers’ end-of-year returns after this date must make sure the returns are submitted by the required dates to avoid fines. ESC B46 was a concession which meant people submitting end of year returns electronically had an extra 7 days to do it. This dates back to electronic returns being tapes or discs posted to HMRC, and the concession meant things like postal strikes did not mean employers got penalties. However, with tapes and discs now being replaced with online filing services, the ESC is no longer required and thus being removed. Any businesses filing a return late after 2011 will have to show that they had a reasonable excuse for the delay in filing to avoid a fine/penalty.