The Communications Workers Union has announced to Royal Mail their intention to hold two national strikes this week on 22 and 23 October, and further industrial action has not been ruled out. This is likely to affect delivery of paper tax returns to HMRC, which are due by 31^st October.  HMRC are aware of this and have advised contractors to be aware that;

1)      It’s your responsibility to make sure that your return is received on time. For paper returns the deadline is Saturday 31st October.

2)      You should consider filing online as you’ll have longer to file your tax return – until 31st January 2010.

3)      If you want to send your return on paper you can deliver it by hand to your nearest HMRC Office instead of posting it.

4)      If you deliver your tax return by hand on Monday 2 November, normal arrangements will apply and you won’t have to pay a late filing penalty.

5)      If you still decide to post your return, send it to your tax office as soon as possible.

6)      You won’t have to pay a penalty if you missed the deadline because of the postal strike – but you’ll need to be able to prove that you posted your return before 31 October.

Agents are advised to file their customers’ tax returns online. If they do want to send them on paper they should either post them as soon as possible or take them to their nearest HMRC Office.

To prepare and submit your Tax Return online you need to register for an online account. HMRC will then send you an activation code within 7 days so you can activate your account. Your tax liability will be calculated for you, and the chances of discrepancies are therefore lower than using the paper return.

For more information on the self assessment process, visit HMRC.

To plan for these impending strikes, Independent Contractor Services (ICS) have announced that they will accept PDF’s and faxes of all documents for all the services we offer. We are also advising contractors who may be sending important documents to ourselves to use on alterative courier to Royal Mail, for example, TNT Mail. A list of companies licensed to deliver letters weighing under 350g can be found by clicking here.

Times Online has described the strikes next week as an awkwardly-timed postal strike which is set to bring chaos to Britain in the run-ups to the tax return deadline and Christmas. They have however detailed some helpful advice with regards to the postal strike in an article named ‘Five ways to beat the postal strike’.

An online business resource for entrepreneurs believes this current postal strike will drive customers away from the Royal Mail as businesses can’t rely on the service.

Royal Mail offers a consumer helpline on 08457 740 740 and regularly updates information about the current strikes on its website at www.royalmail.com/serviceupdates.