The funniest excuses for late tax returns

For the last few years HMRC has revealed its top ‘oddest’ excuses they receive for the submission of late tax returns. The creativity and, let’s face it, boldness, that’s required to approach HMRC with excuses dragged straight from the ‘dog ate my homework’ school of thought is really something to be marveled at.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, we’ve collected some of our favourite creative excuses published by HMRC in recent years:

• My pet dog ate my tax return—and all the reminders.

A classic, ‘dog ate my homework’ turn; it would appear that somebody’s dog has quite the taste for tax returns.

• I fell in with the wrong crowd.

This is quite an impressive excuse—if you’re a teenager on the brink of being expelled from secondary school. We’re not sure with regard to self-assessment though.

• I’ve been busy looking after a flock of escaped parrots and some fox cubs.

While a pretty admirable pursuit, we’re not quite sure a flock of parrots counts as a reasonable excuse for filing your tax return late!

• Our business doesn’t really do anything.

So bold. Almost so bold, in fact, for it to inspire respect. Almost?

• I was in Australia.

And yet, you still owe tax in the UK!

But, what is a reasonable excuse?

Tall tales aside, sometimes life events can happen that are far beyond anyone’s control and this, naturally, can affect a freelancer’s ability to successfully complete their self-assessment return. You can appeal certain penalties incurred by late submission of your tax return, as long as you have, what HMRC terms as, a ‘reasonable excuse’.

Reasonable excuses in the eyes of HMRC include:

• The death of a partner
• An unplanned hospital stay
• Computer failure during the process of submitting your tax return
• Service disruptions on behalf of HMRC
• A fire
• Unexpected postal disruptions

In short, a reasonable excuse extends to events that are completely out of your control and that are unexpected. You can find out further details about HMRC’s reasonable excuses here or the tax appeals process here.

Despite the light-heartedness of some of these excuses, it does serve as a good reminder that to file your return sooner rather than later is prudent, as, if you don’t have one of the excuses listed above, you could face financial penalties.

There is an immediate £100 late fine that comes into force at midnight on February 1st. Then if your self-assessment isn’t returned after three months, HMRC will charge daily penalties of £10 per day for a period of up to 90 days. So that’s at least £1,000 in late fees that you’ll face, all for the sake of a hungry dog with a craving for HMRC documents. Doesn’t seem worth it to us.

What are some of the most outrageous excuses you’ve heard for failing to file a tax return? Have you been caught out in a lie? Or do you have any tips or foolproof strategies to avoid having to think of an elaborate excuse in the first place? Let us know in the comments or connect with us via Twitter or our LinkedIn page.