Over 184,000 people have been fined by the HMRC, despite not earning enough money to pay tax. The fines were given to a number of people who had earned less than the personal pre-tax allowance, which currently sits at £12,500 per financial year.
The reason that the fines fell was because people failed to complete a self-assessment tax form on time for the 2020-21 financial year. According to data obtained by Tax Policy Associates via a Freedom of Information request, HMRC fined 92,000 of the lowest-paid ten per cent of the population for filing their tax return.
Retrospectively, just 39,000 of the highest-paid were fined in the same year.
