HMRC £10 daily penalties (up to £900): how they work and how to appeal
If your Self Assessment return is more than 3 months late, HMRC charges £10 per day for up to 90 days, a maximum of £900, on top of the original £100 penalty. You appeal the same way as the £100 penalty (online or form SA370, within 30 days of the notice), and a reasonable excuse covering the whole period of lateness can cancel the daily penalties too.
Written by the team behind Agent Arthur, our HMRC and tax specialist. This guide is general information about UK law, reviewed for accuracy.How you get to £1,000 without noticing
The £100 penalty arrives in February and is easy to ignore. But at 3 months late the meter starts: £10 every day, for up to 90 days. By the time the daily-penalty notice arrives, many people owe close to the full £900, a £1,000 bill for a return that may have no tax due at all.
The single most important thing: file the return now. Daily penalties stop accruing on the day you file; every day of delay after reading this costs another £10.
Appealing daily penalties
- Same route as the £100: online or SA370, within 30 days of the daily-penalty notice
- Your reasonable excuse must cover the whole period: not just the January deadline, but why the return stayed unfiled through the following months
- Ongoing situations work: a long illness, a bereavement's aftermath, a mental-health condition, prolonged HMRC or software failures. Evidence the duration
- If your excuse ended partway (e.g. you recovered in March but filed in June), explain what filing 'as soon as reasonably possible' meant in your circumstances
- Appeal all penalties on the account at once, the £100, daily, and any 6-month penalty, in one letter
A worked example
Sana's mother died in early January. She missed the deadline (£100), and in the months of dealing with the estate the return stayed unfiled. Daily penalties ran to £680 before she filed in May. Her appeal set out the timeline with the death certificate, explained the continuing disruption, and showed she filed as soon as she reasonably could. That is the shape of a strong daily-penalty appeal: one continuous, evidenced story covering the entire period.
Appeal the full penalty stack in one letterArthur drafts one appeal covering the £100, the daily penalties and any 6-month penalty: a single evidenced timeline in HMRC's own terms.£5 launch price (normally from £19.99)Start my appeal letterCommon questions
Do daily penalties stop when I file?
Yes. They accrue only until the return is filed (or until the 90 days are used up). Filing today caps the damage; appeal afterwards.
Can I appeal the daily penalties if I've already paid the £100?
Yes. Paying a penalty doesn't prevent you appealing it, and one appeal can cover every penalty on the account. Cancelled penalties are refunded.
My excuse only covers January: what about the months after?
This is the key difference from the £100 appeal: HMRC will ask why the return stayed late. Address the whole period honestly: when the obstacle ended, and why your eventual filing date was 'as soon as reasonably possible'.
Is it worth appealing £900?
Almost always. It's the largest of the automatic penalties, a reasonable excuse cancels it in full, and even a partial win (statutory review reducing the period) saves hundreds.