Has everyone seen this, so much for the hardline this year. Lifted from BBC website.
The tax office has conceded that it will have to deal leniently with taxpayers who face fines, owing to a planned strike.
Some 2.7 million people still have to file their self-assessment tax returns online by the deadline of 31 January.
But some HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) staff will strike on deadline day.
If there are insufficient staff to answer last-minute queries, people may decide they are unable to complete their forms and face a £100 fine.
Normally, this penalty would be imposed from the end of Tuesday, but could be waived.
"In all goodness and fairness, we won't be able to charge them," a spokesman for HMRC told the BBC.
Fines
The countdown to the tax return deadline has started in earnest. On Tuesday, 182,530 forms were filed online.
HMRC is introducing a much tougher system of fines this year. The £100 penalty will apply whether or not there is tax owed.
Penalties can mount up if a taxpayer neglects to send in a form, to £1,300 after six months and £1,600 after a year.
Even so, 600,000 of the nine million people who have to fill in the returns are expected to put off submitting them until 31 January.
On past form, 15% per cent of them, about 90,000, will ring for help and may find it impossible to get an answer.
The public sector union, the PCS, is planning strikes at call centres and inquiry offices to protest against the appointment of private companies to run call-handling trials in two contact centres.
Paper deadline
HMRC has provided the reassurance that no one would be disadvantaged as a result of the industrial action. However, those affected would still have to lodge an appeal.
The appeals procedure requires taxpayers with a "reasonable excuse" to write to their tax office quoting their unique taxpayer reference. They should not wait for the penalty notice.
Examples given of valid excuses which would normally be accepted include the loss of documents through theft, fire or flood and the onset of a life-threatening illness.
But a strike at the tax office has now been added to the list.
Those choosing to send in tax returns on paper were required to submit them by 31 October. Some 34,000 penalty notices were sent out after the deadline passed.
.....to protest against the appointment of private companies to run call-handling trials in two contact centres..
This is the really scary bit. It's like pulling teeth dealing with HMRC most of the time already, I can't see even poorer trained staff helping anybody.
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Tony
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