400,000 people have been penalised for a tax mistake when most of them don't owe any tax. Tax Policy Associates says the fines can mount up to thousands of pounds.
Nearly 12 million self-employed people fill out self-assessment tax returns each year, but Tax Policy Associates found that nearly 400,000 people earning less than £13,000 received a penalty for not filing a tax return on time between 2018 and 2020.
The low earnings mean most of them did not have to pay tax - but they automatically got a fine of £100 for not filing a tax return, reports the BBC.
