By Charlotte Beugge

There are less than two weeks to go until the 31 January deadline for filing tax returns and paying any tax due for the 2010/11 tax year.

While HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has sent out about ten million self-assessment tax returns this year, last year around 1.4 million missed the deadline and had to pay a £100 fine.

But accountants UHY Hacker Young warns that this year, a whole new group of Britons could be fined. It says that HMRC sends out thousands of tax returns every year to taxpayers who do not owe tax, but if these taxpayers don't get their forms in they will still be fined even if they owe nothing.

Indeed, even those who are owed money by HMRC risk being fined if they miss the deadline.

Roy Maugham, tax partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: "A lot of taxpayers will be wrong-footed by this. Fining someone who doesn't owe tax or is due a rebate seems very heavy-handed. Considering how many errors have been made by HMRC in recent years, this will lead to a lot of bad feeling.

"HMRC itself doesn't even know how many taxpayers who fail to complete returns do not owe tax. Even if it's a relatively small minority, we are still looking at millions of pounds in fines."

Taxpayers who do not get their returns in by 31 January will be fined £100 and if they still have not got it in three months later, will start accruing fines of £10 a day up to a maximum of £900.