Late tax form submission and court summons

francesca · 02-12-2009, 12:59 PM

I forgot to submit my tax return and handed it in late. Ive not been summonsed to court in February to make an appearance and have heard that I will be fined 8000 HKD. Is there anyway around this? Im thinking because I had to go to hospital twice this year for surgery, I could use this an an extenuating circumstance?

PDLM · 02-12-2009, 01:12 PM

Were you actually in hospital (or demonstrably incapacitated) during the one month period after you were sent the tax form? If not, I don't see how that is relevant, and if you were then the appropriate course would then have been to apply for an extension at that time, which I'm sure would have been granted. If you had, for example, been on an extended trip abroad with no-one attending to your mail, and had contacted IRD immediately on your return to explain the situation then I think that too would have been OK.

I think the moral of the story is not to ignore communications from HK bureaucracy. In my experience, if you play by the rules and do everything they ask then you tend to get good results. If you don't then you now see the outcome.

Sorry to be blunt, but by your own admission you simply "forgot".

Claire ex-ax · 02-12-2009, 01:17 PM

Don't mess with the tax man.

A friend hadn't received her demand note and went to Windsor House to get one. The IRD was in the process of moving from Windsor House to Revenue Tower and she was told that the staff couldn't find anything as stuff was being packed and one would be sent after the move. She received one after the IRD move - the first due date was the original date (not changed to allow for the late form) which had already passed. She asked for an extension to avoid the fine but was told no. Fined something like 4% of the bill because the IRD was moving!

This is how I learnt you never mess with the tax man.

Fiona in HKG · 02-12-2009, 02:40 PM

Two years ago, I was in the UK for three weeks in January taking care of my terminally ill mother and then dealing with the aftermath of her subsequent death. While there my first tax payment date popped up and I failed to remember it, or pay it.

On my return they were putting a fine on my shoulders but when I explained the situation - supported by my ticket stubs and her death certificate - they were sympathetic but would not give me an extension. Instead, they agreed to remove the fine but only if I paid the entire tax bill (January and April payments) immediately. Which of course I did, painfully, as I hadn't budgetted the entire amount for January.