Higher earners face tax penalties

Hundreds of thousands of higherearners may face penalties after HM Revenue and Customs raised the earningsthreshold at which workers are required to file a tax return from £100,000 to£150,000. The move has been criticised by accountancy firms and trade bodies,who warn that it will lead to more taxpayers paying the wrong amount of tax andpotentially incurring penalties from HMRC. The change, which comes into effectnext year, has been accused of reducing the tax office's workload at theexpense of taxpayers. Jon Stride of the Association of Taxation Technicianssaid that the change was "completely misjudged".