Muras Matters: ‘Worst Excuses’

‘Worst Excuses’

Most readers will know that the deadline for filing a self assessment return for the year ended 5 April 2017 is this Wednesday, 31 January 2018. Last week, with a week to go, HMRC revealed that £3.6 million tax returns were yet to be submitted out of 11.8 million issued. Failure to meet the deadline will lead to an automatic penalty of £100 unless, in very exceptional circumstances, the tax payer can demonstrate a ‘reasonable excuse’.

HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) have recently published their latest list of some of the worst excuses for late filing, needless to say NONE of these resulted in a penalty being waived.

  1. I couldn’t file my return on time as my wife has been seeing aliens and won’t let me enter the house.
  2. I’ve been far too busy touring the country with my one-man play.
  3. My ex-wife left my tax return upstairs, but I suffer from vertigo and can’t go upstairs to retrieve it.
  4. My business doesn’t really do anything.
  5. I spilt coffee on it.

All of these people and businesses received a £100 penalty from HMRC for filing late. They appealed against the decision using these excuses, but were unsuccessful.

If you want more information regarding your tax compliance obligations please contact our Tax Director, Jenny Marks.

To see our other news items please visit our Muras Baker Jones – Blog.