{"id":37458,"date":"2014-01-02T11:38:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-02T11:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=4d89689e6b76cebf254ce64ef9b80c83"},"modified":"2014-01-02T11:38:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T11:38:00","slug":"news-story-revenue-reveals-top-10-oddest-excuses-for-late-tax-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=37458","title":{"rendered":"News story: HMRC reveals \u2018Top 10 oddest excuses\u2019 for late tax returns"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The following bizarre, exotic and flimsy excuses have all been used by tardy taxpayers:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. My pet goldfish died (self-employed builder)<\/li>\n
  2. I had a run-in with a cow (Midlands farmer)<\/li>\n
  3. After seeing a volcanic eruption on the news, I couldn\u2019t concentrate on anything else (London woman)<\/li>\n
  4. My wife won\u2019t give me my mail (self-employed trader)<\/li>\n
  5. My husband told me the deadline was 31 March, and I believed him (Leicester hairdresser)<\/li>\n
  6. I\u2019ve been far too busy touring the country with my one-man play (Coventry writer)<\/li>\n
  7. My bad back means I can\u2019t go upstairs. That\u2019s where my tax return is (a working taxi driver)<\/li>\n
  8. I\u2019ve been cruising round the world in my yacht, and only picking up post when I\u2019m on dry land (South East man)<\/li>\n
  9. Our business doesn\u2019t really do anything (Kent financial services firm)<\/li>\n
  10. I\u2019ve been too busy submitting my clients\u2019 tax returns (London accountant)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All of these people and businesses received a \u00a3100 penalty from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC<\/abbr>) for filing late. They appealed against the decision using these excuses, but were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

    HMRC<\/abbr>\u2019s Director General of Personal Tax, Ruth Owen, said:<\/p>\n

    \n

    There will always be unforeseen events that mean a taxpayer could not file their tax return on time. However, your pet goldfish passing away isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n

    If you haven\u2019t yet sent your 2012 to 2013 tax return to HMRC<\/abbr>, you need to do it online and pay the tax you owe by the end of January. With all the help and advice available, there\u2019s no excuse not to.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    To send an online tax return, you must be registered for HMRC<\/abbr> Online Services. This involves HMRC<\/abbr> sending you an Activation Code in the post, so allow a few days for this to arrive. To register for HMRC<\/abbr> Online Services go to the HMRC<\/abbr> website<\/a> and follow the on-screen instructions.<\/p>\n

    \n

    For general help and advice on completing a return, visit HMRC<\/abbr>\u2019s Self Assessment pages<\/a> or call the Self Assessment helpline on 0300 200 3310 (open 8.00am to 8.00pm, Monday to Friday, and from 8.00am to 4.00pm on Saturdays).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    With the 31 January tax return deadline just around the corner, HMRC has revealed the \u2018Top 10 oddest excuses\u2019 for sending in a late return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37500,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37458\/revisions\/37500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}