With the 31 January deadline for submitting your annual tax return now just days away, HMRC has provided a round-up of the most obscure excuses it received after last year’s deadline from self assessment customers who were late in filing. All of the below, unsurprisingly, failed to successfully convince HMRC that the customer should receive an extension:
- “My tax return was on my yacht…which caught fire”
- “A wasp in my car caused me to have an accident and my tax return, which was inside, was destroyed”
- “My wife helps me with my tax return, but she had a headache for ten days”
- “My dog ate my tax return…and all of the reminders”
- “I couldn’t complete my tax return because my husband left me and took our accountant with him. I am currently trying to find a new accountant”
- “My child scribbled all over the tax return, so I wasn’t able to send it back”
- “I work for myself, but a colleague borrowed my tax return to photocopy it and lost it”
- “My husband told me the deadline was the 31 March”
- “My internet connection failed”
- “The postman doesn’t deliver to my house”