HMRC have published Revenue & Customs Brief No 29/08 which provides details on a learning package to help agents and taxpayers understand the new penalty regime commencing on 1 April 2009. The module takes less than half an hour to complete and provides an overview of the new system.

The new penalties are for errors on returns and documents initially for Income Tax, VAT, PAYE and National Insurance contributions (NICs) paid by employers, Capital Gains Tax, Corporation Tax and the Construction Industry Scheme.

The key points on the application of the new penalties are:

• if taxpayers take reasonable care to get their tax right, penalties will not be applied, even if they make a mistake
• if they do not take reasonable care, errors will be penalised and the penalties will be higher if the error is deliberate
• notifying HMRC about errors, especially if this is unprompted, can reduce any penalty due

The learning package outlines details of a new concept, the Suspension of a Penalty concept. It is intended to encourage the taxpayer to prevent further occurrence of errors, by improving their systems and processes so that they can make correct returns going forward.

For full details on the learning package see: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/income-tax/brief2908.htm