Irish Times: Self-employed who claim UK pension may face fines over tax returns

[Brendan Burgess]

UK state pension purchase may expose people to fines over tax returns after they left UK

British tax authorities impose ‘late filer’ fines on self-employed people who left UK after 2013 without formally letting HMRC know

www.irishtimes.com

if they had been self-employed in the UK and left without notifying His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), they could be facing bills of up to £1,600 (€1,917) plus interest for each year they failed to file a tax return – even if they had no tax liability.

...

Fines can be appealed on the grounds of “reasonable excuse” but UK case law shows that ignorance of the need to file is not considered reasonable in these cases.

When they apply to make voluntary national insurance payments, formerly self-assessed taxpayers who have fines outstanding in the UK for not filing or informing HMRC of their departure will be making their current addresses available to UK tax authorities to allow them to pursue those fines.

 

[DannyBoyD]

To add (from same article)

"...accountants RSM found that HMRC issued 155,000 late-filing penalties for the tax year 2021-2022 to people with no tax liability under self-assessment. Following appeals, 60,000 of those had their fines revoked."